Sookie, Interrupted: A Meeting of Minds
by Jan of Arc
Summary: A 'Sookie, Interrupted' side story. A trip to Dallas leads to Sookie discovering a kindred spirit and showing him a path he hadn't realised was open to him.
1. Chapter 1

**A Meeting of Minds – part 1**

Summary: A 'Sookie, Interrupted' side story. A trip to Dallas to ascertain the whereabouts of a missing vampire leads to Sookie discovering a kindred spirit and showing him a path he hadn't realised was open to him.

Disclaimer: Don't own them, never have, thank you Charlaine Harris for letting me play with them. Yes, a lot of dialogue is lifted straight from LDID.

~~*/\*~~

Eric sighed unnecessarily as he hung up the phone. I hadn't been paying attention to the call he'd received, I was too wrapped up in my own work. Well, when I say 'work' I really mean messing around with the format of my client list and pondering the merits of filing my human and supernatural clients separately.

"Who was on the phone?"

"Stan Davis, he's Sherriff of area 6 in Texas and resides in Dallas."

"Oh ... okay. You seem ... I dunno, a little irritated by his call. Is everything okay?"

"He wishes to hire you to aid in the questioning of some humans. He was very vague as to what, exactly, you would be doing but I doubt it would be anything dangerous."

"Well, we have the royal wedding in two weeks but my schedule is light until then. I'm sure we can take a day out ... or night off ... or whatever to find out what the story is."

Eric nodded but still seemed lost in his own thoughts. "They were anxious for me to inform them as soon as possible when we would be arriving and how we would be travelling."

I snorted. "Oh yeah? _That's _secure! Unless they're willing to provide aliases and required paperwork to match they can just deal with knowing a specific day of arrival."

Since the Fellowship was practically annihilated in New Orleans, I'd had a fair few problems to say the least. I never travelled _anywhere_ without a body guard and my GPS on my cell phone activated. I also had the most comprehensive security system installed in the office where I worked and a 'bouncer' of sorts who ensured no-one without an appointment was allowed into the building. To say I was on the Fellowship of the Sun's 'watch list' was an understatement.

"Yes, I explained that to Sherriff Davis and he was very understanding. I negotiated a fee; once my commission has been deducted you will earn $7,000. He wanted to pay less in monetary amounts and instead arrange for transport, food and lodging but I explained that you were quite capable of arranging those things for yourself."

"You won't be coming?" I frowned, not that I needed Eric to be by my side at all times but it would have been nice to have him there for my first trip out of the State. It could have been like a vacation for us but with Eric keeping the area in check, I wondered if we'd ever get to take a break from it all.

"Unfortunately I have had word of a Maenad in my area. Sophie-Ann is sending Bill to investigate but I will have to keep an eye on things until he arrives to assist me. She may just be passing through but there is every chance she'll attempt to contact me. Until what she wants is made clear, I'll have to remain in Area 5."

I remembered reading something in a mystery novel about them once. "Naiads are water and dryads are trees, right? Weren't maenads just women driven mad by the god Bacchus?"

Eric nodded. "Bacchus entered some women so completely they became almost immortal. Bacchus was the god of the grape, of course, so bars are very interesting to maenads. So interesting, that they don't like other creatures of the darkness becoming involved. Maenads consider the violence sparked by the consumption of alcohol as theirs; that's what they feed off, now that no one formally worships their god. And they are also attracted to pride."

"Well ... you own a bar and you _are_ very prideful. What do you think she wants?"

"Tribute. I have come across a maenad before in St. Petersburg. The Halloween massacre of 1876, the maenad, Phryne, sent her madness into a vampire there. It took twenty of us to stake Gregory and clean up after his ... episode. Phryne received her tribute after that, you can be sure."

"So once you've located her and given her what she wants she'll leave the area?"

"Well, that's why Bill is being sent. We will send her a large animal, perhaps a bull or a bear, but if she is unhappy then he may be able to negotiate."

"Sounds like she just wants a big, crazy party more than a smelly animal."

Eric tilted his head to the side and regarded me with interest. "Perhaps that is why she is here. A large gathering of drunken yobs would be like a beacon for a Maenad. Especially if it resulted in a fight or perhaps something worse. I will have to locate any relevant police reports and see if I can pinpoint an event she was drawn to. You, Sookie, are a very smart woman."

I grinned at him. "I'm not really smart, I just happen to say the right things that set your train of thought rolling. We're a team."

Eric rolled his chair back and opened his arms to me, smiling. I curled up on his lap and he kissed the top of my head. "And what a team we make my Sookie. Here's another little fact that may spark your interest – the Maenad was spotted in some woodlands close to Bon Temps."

That wasn't good. As much as Eric was at risk, being a supernatural bar owner, it meant that Sam Merlotte was also at risk. Almost everyone in town went to Merlotte's, so a Maenad hanging around could affect everyone there.

"I should call Sam. He might know something about this, he might not, but he should be warned in any case."

"Good idea Dear One. I have duties to attend to in Fangtasia; one of them will be securing an appropriate escort for your trip. I imagine you will want to get on the road as soon as possible."

"Yep, the sooner I start the sooner I'll be back and maybe I can help out with this Maenad thing. I'll get a couple of rooms booked and call Tray so he can fill the tank in his car."

Eric gave me a kiss goodbye and I was dialling the number for Merlotte's before the front door had closed.

_Merlotte's, Arlene speaking. What can I do for ya?_

"Hi Arlene, this is Sookie Stackhouse. Can I speak with Sam please?"

_Sure, but your brother is right here if you wanna talk to him._

"I'll call him later. Right now I'd like to speak to Sam." I heard Arlene huff into the phone and holler for Sam to come talk to 'That Stackhouse Girl'.

_Hey Sookie, what's up?_

"Hey Sam, Eric got word there's a Maenad in the area and I wanted to give you a heads up. You haven't heard of any wild parties going on nearby Bon Temps have you? We think that's what may have gotten her attention."

_Uh ... come to mention it, we're down a cook. Lafayette was found dead, word is he'd been going to some freaky sex parties recently._

Bingo! I'd bet dollars to dimes that was what had attracted the Maenad. "That's awful Sam. Could you keep your ear to the ground and let us know if you hear anything about the Maenad?"

_Will do Sooks. I'll ... uh ... do some sniffing around and give you a call tomorrow._

"If you find anything out you'd be better calling Eric. He and Bill will be dealing with it and he _is_ the Sherriff after all."

Sam didn't need to know I was going out of town. And even though it had been me who called to warn him, it was a supernatural matter and should be dealt with by people with positions and authority. I said my goodbyes and went to our bedroom to pack a bag for Dallas. While I was picking out my clothes I called my Were-guard Tray Dawson. Eric had suggested Alcide as a guard when we came to Shreveport but I didn't want a guard who was only there because their family owed my boyfriend money. Tray was a bit of a loner and was good at his job as long you paid him a decent wage. And as I didn't need Tray while in the office or when I was with Eric, he still had some time to keep his own business running and spend time with his son.

Once I was settled, I called Eric to fill him in on my plans. Tray and I would leave after breakfast and drive over to Dallas. The only vampire-friendly hotel (believe me there's a difference between having light-tight rooms and being 'friendly') was called Silent Shores, which seemed like an odd name considering it was nowhere near the shore of any of the lakes around the Dallas area. The rooms were booked using my 'petty cash' credit card which wasn't registered to me but to a donor in New Orleans, he was fully aware of his name being used and approved of it as a security method. Once Tray and I had checked into the hotel, we would accept delivery of my vampire escort in their travel coffin and once the sun set that vampire would then take me to Stan Davis' nest. That was the part I was concerned about. I hadn't been in another state before, let alone another nest full of vampires I didn't know. But if Eric thought he didn't need to escort me his own self, I figured I was pretty safe.

~~*/\*~~

Tray and I took a leisurely drive west, stopping for snacks a couple of times. There were still a good few hours until sunset when we booked into Silent Shores, we quickly put our bags in our rooms and went to wait in the lobby for our vampire group member. I scanned the staff while pretending to read a fashion magazine and Tray played with his Game boy. I didn't sense anything odd or threatening about the staff around us, the only thing that stood out was that they were all a little nervous about the nightshift starting. Not because of the vampires waking up but, strangely, because of the 'crazy bell-boy' that always worked nights. I figured it would be worth checking out a member of staff if he made his colleagues uncomfortable. Who knows what kind of factions he could be in cahoots with?

I was going nuts in that foyer. I almost kissed the guys from Izanami Transport when arrived. They handed me a clipboard with the manifest and I smiled when I saw the name of their passenger. Pamela Ravenscroft. Of course it was Pam! Who else would Eric trust to keep me safe while he couldn't other than his own child! I motioned for the Izanami staff to follow us and gave them a thorough read in the elevator to make sure they weren't about to toddle off and tell the FotS anything. Once Pam's travel coffin was in her room, I left her a note with both Tray and My room numbers in case she needed to call us upon rising, her key card and the 'room service' menu (with a reminder to 'forget' her own room number and send the donor to my room so I could read them before she had breakfast). Finally it was time for me to chill in the bath until sunset.

~~*/\*~~

After I'd scanned Pam's breakfast under the guise of directing her to the right room, Tray waited with me in the lobby until she was ready to take me to the Dallas vampire's nest. I didn't have to search long to find the 'Crazy Bell-Boy', his mental signature hit me like a ton of bricks. Turns out he was a telepath too. His mind was ... very unorganised and his shields were non-existent. I waved to get his attention and he cautiously made his way over to me, his thin face was a mask of confusion.

"Hi there, my name is Barry. Is there something you need help with?"

He was young, 18 at the most, but obviously not totally unaware of his ability seeing as he worked in a building with vampires. I rummaged around in his head a little more, he was really in denial about being different but considering he wasn't in a Looney Bin like I was at his age, I'd say he was doing well.

"Actually Barry." I stepped into his line of sight between him and Tray. "I was hoping I could help you."

_You aren't alone Barry. I'm just like you. _His eyes widened in fear but, credit where credit is due, he didn't try to run. I slowly extended my arm and took his hand in mine, pressing one of my business cards into his palm before I let go. _If you have any questions, anything at all, you give me a call._

His eyes darted from left to right before I heard his shaky mind-voice. _You know how to get rid of it?_

_No, I don't. But I do know how to make it easier. I've learned to make it an ability rather than a disability. We need to stop now because people are taking notice but please call me._

"My friend is here now Barry. Don't lose that card okay?"

"I won't Miss ... uh ..."

"Sookie Stackhouse."

"Okay Miss Stackhouse, I'll be sure to get in touch with you ... uh ... some time."

Pam strode towards us, dressed immaculately as usual, and curled her lip at Barry, making him tremble and clumsily scoot back over to the reception desk. She adjusted the strap of her laptop bag and folded her arms, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Well, well, well, Sookie. You know its Vegas, not Dallas right?"

"Huh?"

"Whatever happens in _Vegas_ stays in _Vegas_ not Dallas. Out of Eric's sight for less than a day and scoping for totty already?"

I shook my head and giggled. "Well ... Barry's nice and all but he's not my type. Turns out we're in the same line of business." I gave Pam a significant look, which she thankfully picked up on, then we said goodbye to Tray and got into a cab that was waiting outside for us.

~~*/\*~~

We drove for around thirty minutes before arriving outside one of the strangest houses I've ever seen. The lot was the same size as all the others on the street but instead of a modest, boxy, home, this lot had ... a mansion. Pam paid the cabbie and we walked up the path to a front door which was decorated with a wreath of grapevines and dried flowers. Aside from the size of the building, there was nothing unusual about it. You would never guess that it was home to at least 12 vampires, going by my void-count from the exterior.

The door was opened by a glassy eyed fangbanger, who stepped back to reveal the palest woman I had ever seen. I know that vampires are pale but this chick was white as paper and flat as a board. Her outfit only seemed to accentuate her whiteness and flatness. She nodded at Pam and Pam nodded back before gesturing to me.

"I am Pam Ravenscroft and this is Sookie Stackhouse."

"I am Isabel. We were ... surprised at the spontaneity of your arrival. More notice to prepare would have been appreciated."

Isabel's eyes were narrowed slightly, showing her annoyance at having to cater to the whims of a human. Even if that human was a telepath which they, themselves, requested help from.

"Does it normally take you longer than 24 hours to round up your human pets?" Pam sneered as she crossed her arms.

I could definitely see a little fang as Isabel sneered back at her. "My human was anxious to know when you would be arriving so he could make provisions for the telepath. I understand this is customary when humans visit each other."

I sighed, I wanted to butt in and get the show on the road and I really didn't want to get between these girls if they wanted to duke it out but no guts, no glory!

"Isabel." I nodded from the neck. "Ordinarily, if it's a social visit, it's customary for the host to make provisions for the visitors but as we're here to conduct business there really isn't any need. Are all humans involved with the nest and its businesses gathered as requested?"

Her eyes widened, as if she couldn't quite believe I had just spoken, but she stepped aside and let us enter the house before leading us past the main room and into a hallway. I noticed a vast kitchen, which was equipped to produce meals for at least 20 people at a time. This was odd as usually Vampires deemed kitchens pretty low priority when they design their own houses. They really only needed space for a microwave and a refrigerator, if they drank synthetic that is.

At the sink a lanky guy was washing dishes, which indicated that some humans actually lived in the house. I nodded to him as Isabel led us through what would have been a large dining room but was set up as a homey conference room. I could see Pam was sizing up all the other vampires in the room, her body language changed just slightly and I knew that she was scoping out all of the possible exits available. A majority of humans wouldn't notice it, but I'd seen the same tension in vampires when they visited Sophie-Ann. They aren't comfortable going into another vamps territory, even if that vamp is a friend. The leader of the group was easy to pinpoint, he sat at the head of the table and had taken great pains to present himself as ... a geek. Whatever floats his boat, right?

He regarded Pam and me through almost invisible eyelashes and unnecessary thick rimmed glasses before finally speaking. "Pam Ravenscroft."

"Stan Davis." Pam nodded as she said his name. She turned to me and I nodded towards our 'host'.

"Mr. Davis. I understand you require my services in questioning your humans?" The freckled nerd nodded once, his distaste at requiring the help of a human evident in the way his eyes flicked from my head to my toes. I guess I had gotten too used to the Louisiana Vampires treating me with that little bit of respect, I could see from the look on Pam's face she was willing me to keep my trap shut. I swallowed my pride, remembering that these vampires only had my reputation to judge me on, and smiled at Stan. "If you would be so kind as to supply me with a little information as to what, exactly, you want me to find out I'd appreciate it."

Stan seemed perturbed that _I_ was talking rather than Pam and directed the answer to my question to her. "We need to know where our brother, Farrell, is. He hasn't returned to the nest in five nights."

I nodded in understanding. Vampires aren't stupid, I knew that they would have exhausted the obvious resources or they wouldn't be calling on little old me. All of his usual haunts and feeding venues would have been thoroughly scrutinised and any humans who might have had information would have been glamoured.

"Well, I believe you have all of the humans associated with the nest gathered. I will see them now."

"All of them?" Stan looked surprised, well, as surprised as a vampire can look anyway. I nodded and couldn't help but notice the smug smile on Pam's face. "Very well."

He whispered something to a bristly Hispanic vampire, who grunted and left the room. Stan stood from the table and motioned for us to follow him. I dropped my shields and could hear the thoughts of the people in the house being herded into one area. They were scared. Very scared. We entered the kitchen to find around a dozen humans nervously sitting at the table. I refrained from frowning when I noticed dishwashing guy wasn't amongst them. As I was about to take a seat, a young girl sprang up and leapt towards me.

"You gotta help me!" She shrieked as Pam grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and bundled her back into a chair. The others looked a little green when Pam held the girls face in her hands and told her to calm down. It was a stupid move, what was I supposed to do about the situation? Take on every vamp in the room and fly her off to safety?

"Everyone needs to calm down." As I looked at all of them in turn, my focus swayed a little when I noticed a large man with a placid demeanour. I wondered why he wasn't as scared as the others. "No-one is here to be hurt; we're just going to have a little chat. As you can see, I'm no vampire, so you have nothing to fear from me."

Pam released shrieking girl from her glamour and I smiled warmly at her. I took a little time to find our all of their names and ask a little about their interests outside work. Placid guy was silent but happy; I would investigate that further as soon as folks were settled. It was very strange. Once they were all comfortable with me and had stopped thinking about how to flee the scene, I decided to get cracking. I glanced at Stan as I fished my notebook and pen from my bag.

"Where was Farrell last seen? And could you give me a description?"

"He was last seen at the bar we own, The Bat's Wing. He looks like a cowboy."

I nodded and started thinking about the best way to yield the information. All but one of the people at the table with me were good broadcasters and at the mention of Farrell and the Bat's Wing, those who knew him were subconsciously getting flashes of memories about the night they'd last saw him. The one who wasn't thinking about the bar or Farrell was placid guy, he said his name was Re-Bar. I centred my mind on him to find ... nothing. Not like the usual glamoured people, sketchy and disjointed, he was ... empty. Barely functioning. I leaned over and patted his hand.

"You can go sweetie."

I watched Stan furrow his brows as he motioned for one of his vampires to escort Re-Bar from the room before he levelled a questioning stare at me.

"Re-Bar has been heavily glamoured, but the vampire doing the glamouring didn't put anything back to replace what they took out. It's like he's had a lobotomy." Turning back to the group gathered at the table, I picked up my pen and tapped it against my chin. "Have any of you guys seen any strange vampires in the bar?"

Shrieking girl, Bethany, had a light bulb moment "Oh! Oh! I did! And he was with Farrell too! I saw Re-Bar go into the restroom not long after they did."

In her mind she was remembering seeing Re-Bar going into the bathroom, but I wanted to see the vampire she was talking about. "Did you see this strange vampire speak to anyone else?"

I concentrated on her train of thoughts as she sifted through the events of that evening. Serving drinks and chatting to some humans at the bar. She settled on a man with a dark complexion and a bushy moustache, he was at the bar drinking, then in her next memory he was talking to a blond, tattooed vampire. He must have only been around 16 when he was turned.

"The vampire with the tattoos, is that who Farrell went to the bathroom with?"

Her next memory was the one I was looking for, cowboy Farrell following tattoo Blondie into the restroom. On my notebook I started trying to draw what the tattoos looked like, they were blue and didn't look like anything I'd seen in the windows of Gordy's Ink N' Pierce (Gordy was 3 units down from my office in a strip mall). I showed the rough sketch to the other humans at the table and asked them if they remembered seeing them. Going by the thoughts coming at me, Bethany was the most observant of the bunch. A few of them had totally tuned me out, not even bothering to think about Farrell or the Bat's Wing, and instead started wondering when the vampires would start to get hungry or when they could go home. I caught a stray thought that reminded me of something I'd noticed earlier.

_What scam did Isabel's butt boy pull to get out of being here?_

Was Isabel's butt boy Dishwashing guy? It was interesting that his non-appearance had caught someone else's attention too. When I asked Isabel if _all_ humans involved with the nest were present, she never did answer me.

"Okay guys. I think we've done all we can here." I turned to Stan and tried to make myself seem as businesslike as possible. "They will all be escorted home to ensure they arrive safely?"

Stan nodded once and the humans were led out of the kitchen. I could see the vampires murmuring suggestions into their ears as they were being walked out, none of them would remember me by the time they got home. When it was just me, Pam, Stan and Isabel left in the room, I cleared my throat and began telling them what I'd found out. I was showing them the sketches when a tall red-headed vampire walked in. I recognised her from some of the memories I'd saw earlier, she had been in the bar the same night as Farrell.

"Did you notice any strange vampires in The Bat's Wing the night Farrell disappeared?" I asked her without really thinking. She snarled at me but put her fangs away when Stan told her to co-operate.

"Can you read her the same way you read the humans?" Stan asked.

"No. Vampires are blank to me, do you think I'd still be alive and kicking if I could?" Pam nudged me with her penny loafer under the table and I bit back a yelp. Stan's patience seemed to be wearing thin, I'd have to watch my mouth if I wanted to get out of here in one piece. He turned to the red-head and pulled out a seat at the table for her.

"Rachael, do you remember a blonde vampire, turned in his teens, with these tattoo's the night our brother went missing?"

She glanced at the notepad for a millisecond before nodding enthusiastically. "Oh yes. The tattoo's are from the time of the Romans, I think. Crude but interesting. I remember thinking it was odd that I hadn't seen him at the house to ask for hunting privileges. He had a conversation with a human, dark hair and a moustache." She spread her hands apart in a gesture which said 'they all look the same to me'. Bethany had also seen this strange vampire talking with a guy with a moustache, so it was probably the same guy.

I sighed and rubbed at my temples. We had hit a dead end on the information front. Even though I had partially identified the vampire who saw Farrell last, it didn't lead us anywhere. I started to apologise to Stan for not being much help but Pam held a hand up to silence me.

"If you'll excuse me, I need to contact an associate of mine. He is an expert in identifying and gathering information on us. He may be able to shed some light on this tattooed vampire." I raised my eyebrows, I had no idea we even _had_ an expert. Pam took her cell phone out of her pocket and squeezed my shoulder before she left the room. I heard the door open and close and realised she had left me all alone with Stan and his vampires. If she left the house it must have been a very private call that she didn't want _anyone_ overhearing.

After ten minutes of awkward conversation which began with Stan asking how long I'd been with Eric and if I was content with him, Pam came back into the room. She took her time sitting down and getting comfortable before speaking.

"My ... associate" I made a note to ask Pam who this 'associate' was later on. "Was very forthcoming with information about the tattooed vampire. His name is Godric, although he has gone by the name Godfrey for the last 100 years. He is a renouncer."

All of the vampires looked appalled and I'm pretty sure I heard Isabel gasp. I'd never heard the term before but I was 99% sure it wasn't something good. I must have had a puzzled expression as she turned to me and spoke in soft tones.

"Godric has associated himself with radical humans and plans to meet the sun. His time as a vampire has led him to desire the true death."

"The fellowship, it has to be them. Farrell had no wish to meet the sun; this Godfrey must have captured Farrell at the behest of those zealots. He has betrayed all of us!"

I thought that was a little melodramatic, I'm sure it was nothing personal against Stan from Godric's, or Godfrey's, point of view. But I could completely understand Stan's frustration at Fellowship involvement. It seemed whatever problems vampires had, and by extension me, the fellowship were behind it. Stan seemed to be stewing, Isabel looked a little shaken and Rachael hadn't moved since the word 'renouncer' had been uttered. Suddenly, Stan's eyes bored into Pam.

"Who did you say your expert was again?"

"I didn't" Pam's tone made it obvious there would be no change to that fact. "He requires anonymity but his information is solid."

"I see." Stan wasn't happy. Perhaps my brain knew this would be a good time to interrupt and change the subject as I had my very own light-bulb moment.

"Godric, Godfrey or whatever his name is. He was talking to bushy moustache guy, a human. If he's a renouncer, what are the chances he'd talk to a human he didn't know?"

"None." Stan and Pam said at the same time.

"So, bushy moustache guy must be with the Fellowship! He's the breadcrumb trail! Can you get all the humans back here?" I looked at Isabel. "_All_ of the humans, I need to know if he's been fishing for information."

Knowing the Fellowship's tendency to try and extract information from humans that ally themselves with vampires, I was willing to bet that bushy moustache guy had at least _tried_ to talk to one of the people in Stan's crew.


	2. Chapter 2

**A Meeting of Minds – part 2**

Summary: A 'Sookie, Interrupted' side story. A trip to Dallas to ascertain the whereabouts of a missing vampire leads to Sookie discovering a kindred spirit and showing him a path he hadn't realised was open to him.

Disclaimer: Don't own them, never have, thank you Charlaine Harris for letting me play with them. Yes, a lot of dialogue is lifted straight from LDID.

~v~

Pam pulled her laptop out of her bag and started drafting an email report to Eric. I made myself a cup of coffee while she asked Stan some questions and he dictated his view of things for her. By the sounds of things he was pretty happy with the work I had done, even if my attitude required some readjustment. Isabel and Rachael had spent quite a bit of time on their phones trying to round up all of the humans again ... it looked like I would be in Dallas for another night at least.

"You know what would speed things up?" Pam looked over the screen of her lappy and raised an eyebrow in question. The other vampires just looked at me with that 'The human is making noise again' expression. "If we had one of those guys who draw portraits of people when witnesses describe them; that would make things easier. I have a great picture of the guy in my head, we could show the drawing to the group and it would be easier to weed out those he had spoken to and those he hadn't."

"That _would_ be a good idea." Pam turned to Stan and continued. "Do you happen to have any contacts in Dallas PD? I'm sure they could spare a sketch artist for a couple of hours tomorrow."

Stan shook his head. "There won't be any need for that. I'm an excellent artist, I'm sure I can draw a portrait of this ... uh ... bushy moustache guy."

For a second I thought I saw the ghost of a smirk appear on his geeky facade, it disappeared as soon as it arrived. It was one of those moments where you really wonder if you actually saw it. Pam smiled at him, I smiled at him too but they only seemed to have eyes for each other at that moment. I cleared my throat, earning a scowl from both of them.

"That would be fantastic Stan. We'll return at first dark tomorrow night and get cracking on that. I'll do some recon with Tray during the day tomorrow around the area where the Fellowship church is." I wasn't quite sure how to broach the next subject but it was important that I did. "Do you think Farrell is still ... around?"

"It's possible that they have sent him to final death already. But knowing the Fellowship in this area, they like to invite the press to witness 'God's judgement'." He frowned slightly. "They already have a renouncer, Farrell loved his existence, why drag him along with Godric?"

"There were plenty of other vampires in The Bat's Wing that night, but Farrell seemed to be the only one anyone remembered Godric talking to. Like he was targeted." I was mainly musing to myself but Stan leaned forward a little and ran with it.

"Farrell liked men, young men and Godric was just his type. But how would Godric know to approach him? How did he know Farrell would follow him into the facilities?"

Everyone stopped and looked at each other. There was only one way that Godric would know to approach Farrell. Insider information. If the Fellowship wanted to kidnap a vampire to meet the sun along with Godric (or Godfrey) they couldn't risk making a scene. It had to be a vampire that would willingly follow Godric out of the Bat's Wing so Godric could over-power him somewhere away from witnesses.

Did one of the people that visit or live in this nest go to the Fellowship and tell them everything about the vampires in the nest? It didn't seem like these guys were the type of vampires that sat around chatting with their humans. I thought about the Royal Compound and how any human might find out information like what kind of partner a vampire liked. They'd have to spend a _lot_ of time observing and listening to the vampires and that would get noticed. Surely that would get noticed?

"Are there humans that live here?"

Stan, Isabel and Rachael looked at each other before Stan answered. "Not full time, we have the facilities to make a number of humans comfortable but none of them _live_ here. They may stay a couple of nights, I think I remember Isabel's human, Hugo, spending a whole week here a couple of months ago. But that is the longest a single human has been in residence."

Well, there goes that idea. My train of thought clattered sluggishly along the tracks in my brain. The room was silent except for the noise of Pam tap-tapping at her keyboard. She was typing a lot of words at a very fast pace. It sounded a little like a teeny tiny person using a teeny tiny pneumatic drill. Rachael muttered something about trying the new Asian girl that had been hired at the bar and disappeared. Isabel asked Pam what the accommodations at the Silent Shore were like. I thought about what an off-hand comment it was and that it was the kind of thing that the Fellowship would have wanted to listen to. But how could they listen to everything?

It seemed ridiculous to even consider the possibility, but sure enough, when I checked under the table, there it was. The tiny device the Fellowship had used to hear every word and unguarded comment the Nest made. A bug. I stood up and asked Pam if I could use her lappy, if anyone had wondered what I was doing crawling around on the floor, they didn't say anything to me. I opened the notepad on the screen and typed 'The room has been bugged – it's under the table'.

Stan looked at the screen and parted his lips slightly before pursing them. He leaned in close to Pam's ear, I saw his lips move slightly but he whispered so quietly it had the same amount of decibels as someone farting next to me. Pam stood and picked up my half-full coffee cup, then pointed to the table. We both squatted down and I held the cup while Pam tentatively assessed the bug.

"You clumsy oaf! You've spilled your foul drink all over my new shoes!"

She flicked the bug into the cup and poured the contents into the garbage disposal, grinning at the destructive noise as she turned it on full power. Stan looked peeved. More than peeved. He was enraged. No wonder, someone had come into his _home_ and planted a bug that led to a vampire Stan referred to as his _brother_ to be taken and sent to final death. I felt my stomach turn as I remembered the how angry I had gotten at Waldo and squeezed my eyes closed, trying to repress the memory of my actions. I didn't need to be thinking about that right now.

"So ... how did that get there?"

I looked to Stan and Isabel in turn, both looked back at me blankly before sharing one of those Vampire looks where they seem to communicate without words. One thing was for sure, they were a hell of a lot unhappier than they were when they just thought Farrell had been kidnapped. I let out a yawn I'd been holding back for the last two hours and Pam packed up her things. My cell phone rang when we were in the cab on the way back to the hotel, it was Eric.

_Hello Dear One._

"Hi Eric, did you get Pam's email?"

_Yes, you've uncovered quite the conspiracy. As usual. It's unfortunate that you'll be away from me for longer but, to my thinking, that gives us more to ... catch up on. Yes?_

"It certainly does." I flicked my gaze to Pam who was smirking as she watched Dallas go by through the window. "Hopefully we won't be there so long tomorrow night and I can call you and talk for longer. Right now I'm beat."

_Beat? Didn't Pam protect you?_

"No, not _beat_ like beaten up. _Beat_ like really tired. It's been a while since I've had to ... deal with so many people at the same time. My brain hurts."

_I understand. Would you like to know how I spent my night without you?_

I frowned, not really knowing what to expect. "Uh ... sure."

_Bill arrived from New Orleans and we went Maenad hunting._

"Did you find her?"

_Unfortunately, no. But when we returned to Fangtasia a ... message had been left for me._

"Like a note?"

_No, like a half-dead girl._

My hand instinctively flew to my mouth. Even Pam turned around and looked at the phone in my hand. "Is she ... did she ... how ... what happened to her?"

_We're not sure what happened exactly. Her boyfriend brought her to me. Apparently they had been to a party and had an argument ... I didn't listen to the stupid boys ramblings all that much to be honest. He heard her scream, found her and she told him she was to be taken to Northman of Fangtasia in Shreveport._

"How do you know it was the Maenad?"

_Scratches. Her back had been ripped apart; I called Doctor Ludwig to diagnose._

"How is she? Did the Doctor manage to heal her? Did _you_ heal her?" I felt the colour drain from my face as I thought about Eric giving another woman his blood.

_She was very close to death; we had to drain her of the poisoned blood. We were supposed to transfuse her with bagged blood but we were unable to source an adequate amount. Pam is the best at that sort of thing._

"So ... you just." I lowered my voice from a screech, remembering that we _were_ in public transport. "You just _drained _her and put her out of her misery." My heart was hammering in my chest. This poor, innocent girl had been killed by vampires I knew as they tried to save her from an injury inflicted by a crazy Maenad.

_Not quite. The girl had ID and we consulted with her parents and the Queen. A rash decision was made that Bill is most unhappy with._

"Bill?" I looked at Pam, she had her eyes closed and seemed to be holding back her amusement.

_Yes, in three nights Bill will be rising with his first child. Whether the girl will be just as sorrowful as her maker will be seen then._

"Oh." I knew Bill well enough that he liked being footloose and fancy free. There's no way he'd be delighted about being a maker. "What's her name?"

_Jessica. I'm sure she'll be annoying and drive Bill demented, choosing someone to be your child should be a longer process but her parents insisted. That is to say - they threatened to go to the press unless we did something.  
><em>

The cab drew up outside the hotel and Pam handed the cabbie a $100 bill. He grabbed it and gave us a look that said 'get the hell out of my cab, you crazy bitches'. We did. "Okay, we're back at the hotel now. I need to speak to Tray about some ... errands we have to run tomorrow. I'll talk to you tomorrow night?"

_Certainly. Unless you would like me to read you a ... bedtime story._

I giggled; I could picture the leer on Eric's face as he said those last words. "If I ... need you, I'll call you."

Pam grimaced as I whispered an affectionate goodbye and stalked off to find someone for a nightcap. I saw Tray walk towards me from the bar; Pam had sent him a text message as we got out of the cab. My view of him got obscured by a group of businessmen heading right for me, they looked real angry but just as I tried to move out of their way, they rushed at me. My arms were grabbed and I dropped my shields but I was bombarded by their hostile thoughts. They were all focussed on me. On what a whore I was. On that I was a vamp-fucker. On what was going to happen to me when they got me back to base.

I tried to scream but one of them put his hand over my mouth and slammed my head against the doorframe as they bundled me out of the hotel. The last thing I saw over one of their shoulders was Tray, struggling to get to me past two more 'businessmen' with his cell phone at his ear.


	3. Chapter 3

**A Meeting of Minds – part 3**

Summary: A 'Sookie, Interrupted' side story. A trip to Dallas to ascertain the whereabouts of a missing vampire leads to Sookie discovering a kindred spirit and showing him a path he hadn't realised was open to him.

Disclaimer: Don't own them, never have, thank you Charlaine Harris for letting me play with them. Yes, a lot of stuff is lifted straight from LDID, if it ain't broke ...

~v~

The first thing I felt was my head, throbbing. More than throbbing, really. I was scared to open my eyes in case I found that my cranium had swelled to twice its normal size and was pulsating to the beat of a speed metal band. I lay there, with my eyes closed, trying to figure out how I ended up in such pain. Tentatively attempting to lift one hand to confirm the size of my head was met with the strange sensation of both my hands moving together. _That_ made me open my eyes.

My hands were bound together with what seemed like rope. A brief shuffle of my feet confirmed that my ankles were also tied. I frowned, staring at the ropes, as if they'd fall off by scowl-power. Then I remembered what happened. I'd been kidnapped. By a bunch of angry businessmen. That ... wasn't expected. I don't know how long I sat there, coming to terms with the fact that I was tied up and didn't have a clue where I was. It was the water leaking from the roof onto my hands that brought me out of it. Except it wasn't water. And it wasn't leaking from the roof. It was my own tears.

I wiped my eyes on the backs of my hands and looked around my ... _prison_? Yep, that's what it was. There was a small amount of light coming through a window in the door; I followed it as it shone into the room. I saw a pair of ladies shoes and checked my feet to see if they were mine. They weren't. My shoes were still on. I shuffled closer to the shoes to find them attached to a pair of legs clad in what had been smart pants. Now they were ripped and ... had a strange pattern? No ... not a pattern, it was like a net, it shimmered under the dim illumination. I got closer and picked it up, it _was_ a net. A Silver net. That meant that it was more than probable a vampire was trapped in it. Going by the tattered clothing and dried blood, it was fair to say that this was an injured vampire.

I sat back on my heels. So, not only was I kidnapped and tied up in a dingy room. I was also trapped with a hurt vampire that would need to feed as soon as the sun went down. I cried some more. This was the worst situation I'd ever been in. I thought that I might as well sit back and wait for death, for sure as eggs is eggs, I'd have my throat ripped out less than a minute after that vampire woke up. Then I mentally slapped myself.

Yep ... things were looking pretty bad for Sookie Stackhouse. But what kind of person did it make me that I wasn't even going to _try_ and get out of this? I leaned forward and grabbed the vampires' legs, shuffling backwards until her bare ankles were directly under the beam of light. No sizzling. That meant it wasn't sunlight. I could just make out the hands of my watch indicating it was 5.30. I pulled harder, dragging the vampire further into a place I could see better. It was hard and painful. The heaviest thing I'd lifted in a long time was my laptop. I slowly peeled the net away, wincing as it pulled some of her skin off at the same time, then took a look at who would be trying to eat me for dinner in a couple of hours time.

"Oh God! Pam!"

I heard shuffling and jangling outside the door and wished I'd managed to keep my mouth shut. The door creaked open and I squinted as the room brightened.

"We were wondering if the boys had smacked you a little too hard. Welcome to hell, bitch."

"What did you do to Pam?" I blinked at my captor, finally getting used to being able to see a little more. He might have been handsome if his face didn't wear such a cruel expression, his physique was that of a body builder and the 'pumping iron' look was perfected by his black hair being styled in a crew cut.

"The minion of Satan?" He gestured to her and I frowned at his terminology. "I'll give her her due. She chased that van for 6 miles before ripping the back doors off. Pity it was for nothing."

I remembered Tray trying to get to me as I was taken and smiled down at Pam, I should have known she wouldn't let them take me without a fight.

"You might as well face it. You're here, your vampire bitch is here and the guy who called her took a few too many blows to the kidneys. Don't worry about him, the boys will be waiting when he gets out of hospital. You're screwed."

I lowered my head. Poor Tray, I felt overwhelming guilt at his situation. My captor laughed cruelly. Who the hell was he? I guess it didn't matter. Like he said, I was screwed. Then I had a light bulb moment. I was here and Pam was here, that meant Eric was going to be _pissed_. Even if he was too far away to track me in Shreveport, as soon as he felt I'd been hurt he'd make his way to Dallas ... wouldn't he? Even if he didn't, he'd feel Pam was in danger and react then.

"I can almost hear the cogs in your brain working, vamp lover, we know about your _talent_ and being able to read minds won't do you a lick of good in this here situation."

I wondered how he knew that and zeroed in on his thoughts. Whether it was purposeful to keep me from knowing any details or he was just completely depraved, I was showered with images of him in sexual situations with me ... and 'dead' Pam, we weren't willing in any of them and he seemed to be really getting off on that. I swallowed the bile that rose up.

"You'll be getting another visitor soon. Don't you go anywhere, now!"

He slammed the door closed and I could hear his barking laugh quieten as he got further away. I dropped my shields and tried to see if there was anyone else in range, maybe I could get a snippet, even just a picture of the building from someone's mind, anything to try and determine where we were. But all I could get was a rough idea of the number of people in the building and that they were spread around pretty wide. I did note that there were two voids in addition to Pam. Yeah, being a telepath was pretty useless in this situation. Even if I _did_ find out where I was, what would I do with the information? It's not like I could transmit my thoughts ... for that I'd need ... _another telepath_! Barry! It wasn't much, but it was something! I stroked Pam's marred face and felt a few tears of relief escape my eyes before I concentrated on my task.

_**Barry? Barry Barry Barry ...**_

_**What do you want? Who are you? **_I sighed and smiled in relief. I had reached him.

_**It's Sookie Stackhouse. I gave you my card. Did you see what happened at the hotel last night?**_

_**No but I saw them take that big guy in the ambulance and I saw it on the news.**_

_**I was on the news?**_

_**Yeah. Kidnapping in public tends to be quite noticeable here. **_His mental sneer was a little off putting but I persevered.

_**I need you to help me and the guy that was taken to hospital.**_

_**How? What can I do? I'm just a bell boy.**_

_**You can pass on a message though right?**_

_**I guess. What's the message? And who do I pass it on to?**_

I blanked for a second. I had no clue what Stan's address was. So I sent Barry images of our cab ride and the house he needed to go to, as well as giving him a clear picture of Stan himself.

_**That guy is Stan. He's the leader. Tell him Pam and I are in danger and that the hospital isn't safe for my guard.**_

_**I'll try but how will I explain ...**_

_**There isn't time to think about that right now Barry. I'll help you, don't worry. **_I sent him a picture of Eric. _**If you see this guy, he's my ... boyfriend. He'll be angry - so be careful.**_

_**Okay**_

I felt Barry's fear at the task I'd given him, then a thin barrier jumped up, breaking our connection. I didn't even know if he would pass the message on or not but at least I'd done what I could. Right now, I had to try and figure out where we were and how to stop Pam draining me when she came to life. I Heard voices coming closer and locked on to the thoughts.

_Bitch is smarter than we thought. The traitor doesn't have a clue what's in store for him._

_Why are they taking me down here? This is where they keep the prisoners._

_We're gonna have a grand ol' time. Best lock in yet!_

I could determine that the 'Bitch' was me and that, not only was the 'traitor' about to be thrown in the same room as me, it was Isabel's beau – Hugo. I knew dishwashing guy was suspicious! Keys jangled and hinges creaked. I had gathered up the silver net I had taken off Pam and with some wedging and rolling, I was sitting on top of it. I figured if they saw me holding it, they'd be sure to take it away. Hugo was tossed to the floor in front of me by body builder guy. Behind him stood none other than Steve Newlin – Leader of the Fellowship of the Sun.

"Ooohweee! Lookee here Gabe!" Well at least I could stop calling him body builder guy. "A whore, a traitor and a ravenous child of evil!"

"What do you want from us Newlin?" I didn't even try to disguise my disgust for him in the tone of my voice.

"What do I want? I want a world where children can grow up without fear of being drained as they sleep. I want every vampire to witness the wrath of God as the sun rises over his holy earth. But I can't have every vampire. So I'll just have to make do with the three I do have."

Okay, so he wanted Pam to fry and I'm guessing the two vampires I sensed earlier were Godfrey and Farrell.

"Poor you." I snorted. "And what? You're just gonna outright kill me?"

He looked thoughtful for a second and glanced at Gabe. Gabe was looking at me with a nasty glint in his eyes and I remembered what the New Orleans Fellowship had done to the donors they captured. Whether they killed me or not, he was intent on having his interpretation of fun before they did.

"We were."_Just like Bethany_. "But we thought something more ... extravagant was needed. Just before dawn, you'll be strapped to your vampire whore friend here. Hugo will be tied to the other and then you'll both fry along with the demons that you betrayed humanity with!"

Bethany was dead? I had heard the rest of what he said, I was just blindsided by his mental confession. Hugo started whimpering and got on his knees in front of 'reverend' Newlin.

"But I planted the bug! I've been helping you! I saw the error of my ways!"

Newlin kicked him. "You went back to your vampire bitch every night Hugo."

Hugo fell backwards and bumped against me, almost exposing the silver net. I used all my strength to push back against him with my shoulder. I didn't want him anywhere near me.

"You kidnapped me. Very publicly. Don't you think it'll be PR suicide if I show up dead after one of your _ceremonies_?"

Newlin laughed. "You'll be ashes sweetheart. We didn't kidnap you! An underground terrorist movement called 'The light of day institute' kidnapped you!"

"Still, people will be looking for me. And this one." I nodded to Pam. "They'll be here well before dawn."

"Even if they do guess where you are, we'll be on lockdown by then. This basement has a concealed entrance the police won't find and if the bloodsuckers come for their sister we got that covered too. Silver plated shutters, wooden bullets. You might as well sit tight and wait for your judgement."

He didn't know how the blood worked. Eric wouldn't have to guess where me and Pam were. He'd feel it as soon as he got in range. Newlin smiled at Gabe and muttered about it being 45 minutes until sundown. Gabe grinned and watched Newlin walk down the corridor before turning towards Pam with the eyes of a predator targeting its prey.

Hell. No.

I scooted closer to her, trying to conceal the silver net took a backseat to stopping this monster from defiling my friend when she couldn't defend herself.

"She can't help you. See? She can't even help herself!"

He laughed as he kicked her in the stomach. Pam was rolled onto her back at his assault. I launched myself at him as best I could but with my wrists and ankles bound, all I managed to do was knock him on his ass and make him ten times angrier. Gabe got up and dragged me to the other side of the room by my hair before smacking me so hard in the face, I tasted blood. I spat the contents of my mouth on him as he turned away, not because I was gross and liked spitting on people who hurt me, but because I thought if there was fresh blood scented on him, Pam might wake up quicker.

I looked at Hugo who was surveying the scene through wide eyes. Like a child who found the Exorcist while flipping through the TV channels. Terrified of what they were seeing, but unable to look away. Gabe nudged Pams' legs apart and started ripping her pants open. I kicked Hugo and he head snapped towards me.

"Do something Asshole!" I slurred, I think Gabe might have done some serious damage to my jaw. Those three words caused me more pain than anything else that had happened so far. Hugo nodded, licked his lips and nervously stood up.

"Don't touch her you sick fuck!" His hands were clenching at his sides as Gabe stood back up and loomed over him.

"What are _you_ gonna do? You love this shit! Fucking vampires, nasty sex with dead people, you love it. So who's the sick fuck?"

Gabe grabbed Hugo's face and pushed him backwards until he was up against the wall. I was a little proud of Hugo; he gave Gabe a good fight. They pushed, punched and clawed at each other for a while before Gabe got bored and took Hugo out by smashing his head against the wall. Hard. As soon as it happened, I knew. One minute Hugo's mind was there and the next it wasn't.

"You k ... killed him." The malformed words clumsily slopped out of my mangled mouth. Every syllable feeling like someone was trying to saw my face in half.

Gabe stopped and looked at Hugo and the pool of blood forming around his head on the floor. He sighed and rubbed at the bridge of his nose, like killing Hugo was an inconvenience he could have done without. I didn't know what hit me when he came over and wrenched my arm out of its socket. I screamed in pain from my shoulder, then sobbed in pain from my jaw.

"No more interruptions."

This ... man ... was the most evil being I had ever come across. He turned his attentions back to Pam and I cried, silently, while he continued removing her clothes. I closed my eyes and willed myself to be deaf when I heard the distinct sound of a zipper. At first I thought maybe the wishing had worked but I could hear _something_, it just wasn't the sound of ... _that_.

I opened my eyes and saw Gabe hanging in the air, pants open and little Gabe exposed. His eyes were bulging and he was making choking noises, clawing at the hand around his neck. I blinked, my gaze travelling from the hand, down the arm, to find Godfrey was Pams', and my, saviour.


	4. Chapter 4

**A Meeting of Minds – part 4**

Summary: A 'Sookie, Interrupted' side story. A trip to Dallas to ascertain the whereabouts of a missing vampire leads to Sookie discovering a kindred spirit and showing him a path he hadn't realised was open to him.

Disclaimer: Don't own them, never have, thank you Charlaine Harris for letting me play with them. Yes, a lot of stuff is lifted straight from LDID, if it ain't broke...

~v~

I managed to keep my eyes open long enough for Godfrey to ask if I was badly hurt but not long enough to answer him. I guess he got his answer. I drifted, the pain stopping me from becoming fully unconscious. Gabe was shouting about me trying to escape. I vaguely heard Pam's voice. I felt myself being picked up. My eyes opened wide and I tried to scream as I felt my shoulder being popped back into place.

"Her jaw is broken." Godfrey's tone was matter of fact, there was no sympathy.

Pam was facing the corner, crouched down in attack position. When she stood up I saw Gabe cowering beneath her. She looked at me and seemed ... regretful.

"I've been injured. I cannot spare the blood for healing." She snarled and turned back to Gabe. "But this one will help me regain my strength."

Godfrey turned to me and stared into his pale blue eyes. They were hard and sad. But I'd rather look into them than watch what Pam was doing with Gabe. A vampire bite can be very pleasant ... if the vampire wants it to be, Pam wanted Gabe's experience to be anything but pleasant. And it sounded like she was succeeding. I didn't feel bad for Gabe, not one bit. Despite the injuries I'd incurred, although Hugo had come off much worse, I was happy that I'd prevented that monster from raping my friend. The question I was now asking myself was – what do we do now?

How on earth do we get out of here? As I was pondering this and remembering Steve's proclamation that they had stakes and whatnot, I felt something touch my lips and tasted a coppery liquid. I blinked and found Godfrey's wrist at my mouth. My eyes questioned him.

"You can't talk. We need you to talk."

I nodded and took the offered blood. Godfrey's eyes glazed over and his fangs ran down as I weakly lapped at his wound. I was beginning to feel my pain reduce, my jaw felt like it was on fire because it itched so badly and then his arm was yanked away.

"That's enough!" Pam hissed. "She belongs to my maker. He will fully heal her."

She hunkered down next to me and smoothed the hair out of my face. It was an unexpected motherly action. Pam wasn't known for being affectionate. I wiggled my jaw experimentally and nodded to her.

"What happened down here Sookie?" She waved towards Hugo and Gabe before pointing at Hugo's dead body. "This human was at Stan's nest. Was he also captured?"

I shook my head. "No. He was the rat. He planted the bug and called the Fellowship about us. But he tried to make up for all that ... in the end."

Pam motioned for me to continue. "Gabe ... he was going to rape you while you were dead for the day. I tried to stop him but ... he's a big strong guy. Hugo, well, he made the ultimate sacrifice for your dignity."

She looked at Hugo with respect in her eyes and then examined me more closely. Manoeuvring my limbs and helping me to stand up. Godfrey watched us with interest.

"Can you tell us how to get out of here?" Pam asked him. "Do the humans have any weapons?"

"You are a vampire and this one consorts with our kind."

Colour me confused. I wasn't sure exactly what kind of point he was making. "Well ... you're a vampire too."

"Tomorrow I atone for my sin publicly," Godfrey said. "Tomorrow I greet the dawn. For the first time in a thousand years, I will see the sun. Then I will see the face of God."

"But that's a choice _you_ have made."

"Yes."

"But I didn't. I was kidnapped and I sure as hell don't want to die." Pam looked at me as if to say 'what the hell is this guy on?'

"Look, Godfrey ... Godric ... whatever name you're using today. We need to get out of this shithole yesterday. So just tell me what kind of ammo I'm facing and you can atone to your heart's content."

"All vampires are damned, and should all meet the sun. We're a taint, a blot on the face of the earth." Yeah, someone's been beat over the head with the Fellowship propaganda a little too often.

"And these guys." I gestured towards Hugo and Gabe. "They weren't damned for conspiring to murder me and Pam, Godfrey?"

Godfrey didn't seem comfortable with that statement. His cheeks were drawn and his skin was like the thinnest parchment, it must have been a long time since he fed. His white complexion made his sunken eyes stand out and his hair floated around his head like cotton candy.

"They, at least, are human, part of God's plan." He said quietly. "Vampires are an abomination."

"Yeah because Gabe was such a class act!" I snorted and Pam nudged me.

"Godfrey, I know you've tired of your existence ..." Pam started but Godfrey interrupted her.

"I have not tired. I must be stopped." He looked away and his voice got a lot smaller. "So many innocents. It's for the children. I cannot be left to wander this earth anymore."

Oh. There was nothing I could say that would be adequate. This soulless demon, according to the Fellowship, felt the burden of his centuries of killing children. The soulless do not feel burden, or guilt, or the need to atone. If he had been human I would have helped strap him to the electric chair, but humans rarely give up their own lives to make up for their transgressions.

"Okay, you're a monster blah, blah." Pam rolled her eyes. "We're getting out of here; obviously you don't want to help with that. It's been a pleasure."

Pam urged me towards the door but I stopped and turned back to Godfrey. "You feel like you need them to help you meet the dawn don't you?"

"They have called the media and I have a special white robe to wear." I almost laughed. He was like a doubtful bride making excuses for the wedding to go ahead.

I raised my eyebrows. "Big whoop. Either you've got the balls to do it or you don't but you've seen the extremes this group will go to. They wanted to tie humans to the vampires and watch them scream and burn and die an inhuman death. You've helped us and healed me and I ... we're really grateful for that. You know that these people are monsters. Meet the sun on your own terms, not theirs. Come with us, get out of this place. Don't give them the satisfaction of rejoicing in your sacrifice."

Pam huffed exasperatedly and pulled me behind her. I knew Godfrey was old, he had that look about him, but I had no idea how effective the little taste of his blood would be. I felt strong, despite the lingering aches and was able to keep up with Pam's speedy stride as she checked all the doors in the corridor.

"This one." She stepped back from the door and kicked it. Once, twice and then it screeched in submission. "Shit. Silver chains."

I nodded and ran over to Farrell. The chains weren't thick but they were heavy enough that I wouldn't be able to just snap them. I shook my head at Pam and she growled in frustration before ripping off the remainder of her pants and wrapping them around her hands. Farrell snarled and thrashed in his restraints, trying to weaken them I guess. There was an almighty commotion above us and I dropped my shields. I counted 8 vampires. I couldn't tell if Eric was among them. I hoped Steve's boast about the ammo they had was just that. Although, even with stakes, wooden bullets and silver, a bunch of humans trying to take on a group of angry vampires was still incredibly stupid.

We tried to snap the chains attached to the cuffs Farrell was wearing, but all we succeeded in doing was tearing one of the bolts from the wall. I guess it was just as effective. Godfrey was standing at the door watching us as we fought with the other bolt. I heard a whole mess of banging from nearby. Either the vamps were trying to get down to rescue us or the Fellowship was trying to get down to finish us off. I hoped it was the former. As I was tugging at the chains I felt a sharp sting on my neck and growling.

"Fuck!" Pam shouted and stopped trying to free Farrell. She dragged me away from him and took a good look at my neck. I stared at Farrell, he looked wild, starving but he had blood all over his mouth. It took longer than usual but I eventually put two and two together.

Never let a yummy smelling human try to rescue an extremely hungry vampire. Lesson learned. Pam told me she'd have to feed a little until her saliva contained coagulant before she could stop the bleeding. I nodded numbly and tipped my head to the side so she could get on with it, Farrell snapping and growling the whole time. I saw Godfrey whip his head round and take a step back from the door. I didn't really see anything clearly after that. It was the vampires who came in to the room and they were buzzing around at such speeds I couldn't pick one out from the other. Pam licked my neck to seal the wounds but soon after was pulled away from me. I blinked, thinking she was going to be attacked and stood to help her but was soon pulled into a strong pair of arms.

"You are both fine." Eric's deep voice soothed me. "Come. We must get to safety."

I relaxed, for the first time since before we went to Stan's nest and clung to Eric's back as he ran us out of the Fellowship centre at vampire speed. I turned around once we were outside and saw Pam was hot on our heels but the most surprising thing, was that Godfrey was right behind her.

Rather than going back to the hotel as I'd like, we ended our break for freedom at Stan's nest. Isobel was there, cell phone glued to her ear, co-ordinating by the sounds of things. She eyed us warily, especially Godfrey, as we swept into the kitchen. Eric pointed to two donors.

"You two, see to these vampires."

He pushed them towards Pam and Godfrey but Godfrey shook his head in refusal. Pam gladly took her pick (a curvy redhead) and disappeared. Godfrey and Eric looked at each other for a moment before Eric nodded and grabbed one of the donors. He led us both down the halls until he found a bedroom and sat us down on the edge of the mattress. The donor he picked was stupid.

"Hey man, I'm not really into threesomes unless it's two chicks if you get my drift?"

Eric snarled at him. "We are not here for sex." He leaned back and pointed out my battered body. "Does this woman _look_ like she's here for sex?"

The donor, I caught his name was Tony from his mind, gaped and wondered what the point of being a donor was if he wasn't going to get off. Eric prevented his thoughts from wandering any further by tearing into his wrist and putting it in front of me. As I suckled at the sluggish wound, Eric grabbed Tony's wrist and bit into it. He could have been a little gentler judging by the yelping and sobbing coming from poor Tony. I could see Eric was enjoying the experience. Tony seemed to think it was the taste of his blood. I was pretty sure it was the sensation of me drinking his blood. The wound closed up and I started to feel ... normal again. Eric sealed Tonys bites and sent him on his way $100 better off.

"I would rather have been alone for your healing but I did not get the chance to feed before we went into the Fellowship."

"It's fine. I didn't mind." Talking about feeding made my stomach growl. I put my hands over it and felt a blush creep up my face.

"When was the last time you got to eat?" Eric was immediately concerned. He always liked to make sure I was eating regularly; it was easy to forget when the person you live with doesn't sit at the dinner table like other folks.

"Uh ... wow! Before we left to come here last night. No wonder I'm starved!"

He smiled and held my hand as we made our way back to the kitchen. When we got there Pam was looking much better, she must have borrowed clothes from someone. Not only were they not her style at all, they were a little on the big side. We sat at the table and a plate of lettuce and Doritos was placed in front of me. No-one ever said vampires made good chefs. Stan came into the room with 3 large vampires and pointed to Godfrey. I could see they were ready to haul him onto his feet and push him to wherever they were going but they got a surprise when Godfrey just nodded and stood up, gesturing for them to lead the way.

Isobel sashayed in, looking very flustered. "On top of everything else I have not heard from Hugo this evening."

I looked as Stan raised an eyebrow and nodded to someone behind him. The Hispanic vampire I remembered seeing before came in with something wrapped in a tarp. He handed it to Isobel and her nostrils flared before her eyes rimmed with red.

"What happened to him Joseph?"

Okay, so now I knew the Hispanic vampire was called Joseph. I got one answer but Isobel got none. Joseph looked at her blankly before gesturing to me and Pam.

"He was found in the basement of the Fellowship. From the smell of things it was the same room these two were held in."

Isobel fixed her gaze on me. It was frightening. I felt Eric's hand on my shoulder and straightened my back, waiting for her to ask. She raised an eyebrow and I raised one right back. So far I'd been used as a punch bag, almost had to witness an awful act carried out on my friend and been snacked on by the vampire I was trying to rescue. If she wanted to know anything, she could damn well ask me her own self!

"Miss Stackhouse." The words hissed from between her grinding teeth. "Would you care to tell me how my human ended up in the room with you?"

I smiled at her. "Sure. He was the Fellowship spy." Her eyes widened and she dropped his body. "He planted the bug and called them with the information on where Pam and I were last night. Didn't do him any good, they were still gonna kill him."

"Take ... _this_ somewhere." She beckoned to another vampire. "Dump it in an alley or something."

"Wait!" I stood up and they all turned to me with fangs out. Eric growled deep in his throat and the obviously younger ones backed off. "He may have been a spy but he helped us. He fought for Pam in that room and lost his life in the process. I think that deserves a little more than dumping him in an alley."

I could tell that the vampires didn't really give a hoot about what I thought but Pam chimed in and echoed my sentiments. "It's true. Sookie told me of how a vile human was attempting to sexually assault me during my day death. Your human died while trying to prevent that. Perhaps it would be a better idea to return his body to his family or a human friend?"

There was murmuring among the Dallas vampires before a skinny boy of a vampire removed Hugo's body from the kitchen. Eric leaned down and whispered that he was being taken to his parents' house. Stan came over and sat at the table with me and Pam, leaning his elbows on the surface and looking at Eric before speaking to us.

"So where we thought there was only one spy, it turns out there were two."

He nodded to Joseph and moments later a very roughed up Barry was brought in and forced into the chair next to Stan. I gasped and got up, rushing round to Barry's side. Joseph snarled and grabbed at me but let me go when Eric lifted him off the floor by the neck. Stan watched the whole scene with interest before huffing out an unnecessary breath.

"Joseph, calm yourself. Northman if you would be so kind as to let my second go?"

Eric let go of Joseph but wrapped his arms around me, as if to say that to get to me anyone would have to go through him.

"Barry? Oh my stars! What happened? What did they do to you?"

Barry looked right at me.

_**You said you would help me.**_

Right there, in a vampire's kitchen, I broke down sobbing.


	5. Chapter 5

**A Meeting of Minds – part 5**

Summary: A 'Sookie, Interrupted' side story. A trip to Dallas to ascertain the whereabouts of a missing vampire leads to Sookie discovering a kindred spirit and showing him a path he hadn't realised was open to him.

Disclaimer: Don't own them, never have, thank you Charlaine Harris for letting me play with them. Yes, a lot of stuff is lifted straight from LDID, if it ain't broke...

~v~

Eric picked me up and Joseph manhandled Barry back out of the chair. Barry was terrified. I couldn't help but blame myself for his situation. If I hadn't contacted him, he would never have come here; he'd never have been mistaken as a spy or beaten. I had to think fast, if they thought he had brought them that information as a former member of the Fellowship, there would be no saving him.

"Wait!" I shouted to Joseph and he turned around and raised an eyebrow at me. "Bring him back to the table ... please."

Stan nodded and watched me carefully as Barry was, once again, pushed into the chair. I picked up his hand and looked into his eyes.

_**Barry, I'm so sorry. I had no idea they'd think you were a spy. I'll try to fix this but ... I just don't know how to do it yet.**_

Barry just looked at me. His mind was locked up tight; I couldn't even get an emotion out of his thoughts. But I could from his expression. I saw anger and disappointment. My guilt increased.

"Barry isn't a spy. I sent him here to let you know where we were and how much danger we were in. He's just a bellboy." I glanced at Pam, knowing that she was aware the Barry was also a telepath. She was a closed book, I couldn't decide if that was good or bad.

Stan eyed me warily. "You _sent_ him? How? Did you have access to a phone in that basement?"

Barry's eyes widened a little. I rubbed his hand between my own to try and comfort him.

_**There's no other way to explain it Barry. I know you want to just hide but ... well, sometimes we get discovered. These guys don't seem so bad ... for vampires. What do you think would have happened if the Fellowship found out about you?**_

His head moved the tiniest fraction. _**What will they do to me?**_

_**Well, when vampires found me they gave me a job. And a place to stay. And the chance to make friends. Now I run my own business. But ... I wasn't as ... independent as you are.**_

His eyebrow twitched a little in question before nodding to me. I breathed out heavily, I had no idea I'd been holding it in. I looked Stan in the eye and straightened my shoulders.

"Barry is also a telepath. I was able to communicate with him." I tapped my head for emphasis. "And send him to you with a message."

Stan looked shocked, as shocked as a vampire could be anyway. "Another mind reader?"

Barry and I both nodded and Stan looked so excited I thought he would pee himself, except vampires don't pee, but if they could – Stan would have done it, right there at the kitchen table. He looked at Isabel and started assessing Barry's injuries. Isabel didn't seem pleased about that, for some reason. The reason became apparent when Stan helped Barry out of his seat.

"Isabel, I believe we owe this man a healing. This will go some way to making up for allowing Hugo to live among us and pass information to his ... group."

Isabel stood stock still for a second, glancing at Stan like she expected him to change his mind or say it was just a joke. When all he did was look back at her expectantly, she grabbed Barry by the arm and hauled him out of there.

_**Sookie? Where is she taking me?**_

_**She's going to heal you Barry. Vampire blood can put you back together quicker and better than anything a doctor can give you. You'll need to drink from her.**_

_**What? Gross! I'm not doing that! I don't wanna be a vampire!**_

_**You won't become a vampire. Isabel will be able to sense some of your feelings and your ... uh ... sex drive may get a little crazy but you won't become a vampire. I promise.**_

I turned to Stan. "Will Barry be okay with Isabel?"

He seemed to mull the question over for a whilebefore answering. "Healing him is the first step. Now we've found another telepath, it would be idiotic to let him wander off again. Hopefully he and Isabel will get on well and she can bond him to her."

I felt Eric stiffen next to me, as if Stan had said something I shouldn't have heard. I wasn't surprised when he changed the subject completely. "What will you do with the other vampire that came in with us? Godric."

Stan tilted his head to the side in thought. "He wants to meet the sun. We will arrange this for him in a way which doesn't endanger any other vampires or humans."

"The fellowship had robes for him and they had invited the press." All the vampires in the room looked at me as if I'd just told them I like to eat shit with my biscuits. "I don't know if Godric wanted to make a big thing out of it or he'd been talked into it by those people."

Eric nodded. "Then we will return to the hotel. You know my number if you need anything."

I sagged against Eric in relief. Rest. Finally.

I can barely remember getting into bed. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. My dreams were panicked and anxiety ridden. So much so, that I started slapping at Eric when he woke me about an hour before sunrise.

"Shh, Sookie it's okay!"

"Guh, Eric. I'm sorry. Crazy dreams. What's wrong?"

"I wanted to let you know that Godric will meet the sun this morning. He has spoken to Stan about his wishes and they will aid him as long as they can without putting themselves at risk."

Godric was a wretched creature, like so many that took their own lives. But he was doing it to protect humanity, albeit a little late in the game but his intentions were pure. He was a danger, so he was taking himself out of circulation. He had saved us. Me and Pam. Whether he had saved us on purpose or it had just been serendipitous would probably never be known now. I was still dead (har-har) beat but I swung my legs out of bed and started looking around for something to wear.

"What are you doing?" Eric frowned.

"I'm going to ... to ... see him off. We couldn't have made it out of there without his help. The least I can do is keep him company when his own kind can't."

"This is something you want to do? Even though Godric is dangerous and has done unspeakable things that some vampires frown upon?"

"This is his way of making up for it. It doesn't. Not by a long shot. But he's trying and it deserves recognition."

Eric nodded and handed me my sweat pants.

Isobel looked worn when she answered the door. I checked the house to find there was only one human inside. I could tell it was Barry, even though he was sleeping. I was led to the postage stamp sized back yard, where I found all of the vampires I'd met at the nest (plus a few I hadn't). Godfrey was there, sitting in the middle of the yard on a lawn chair. Stan came over and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Ah! Sookie, I'm glad you're here. Godfrey would like to ... mark this occasion. Apparently the Fellowship had called the media to cover the event. We have no intention of doing the same but we've set up a camera and I'll be making a brief statement. The problem is that no-one here can stay with Godfrey until ..."

"It's over." Stan nodded. "Okay, I mean I was planning to be here anyway. Just to keep him company but I guess you want me as a ... witness?"

"Yes."

I went back to the kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee, no point waiting for someone to offer to do it for me, and watched as the vampires came back inside in dribs and drabs. The younger ones couldn't stay awake as long as the older ones and felt the pull of the sun sooner. Stan stood in front of a small camcorder, held by Joseph, and made a statement about how Godfrey desired to meet the true death because he was a danger to world's children. He also added that as senior vampire of the area, it was his responsibility to ensure that no vampires harmed humans in Dallas region. I almost choked on the dregs of my cup when my name was mentioned and Stan beckoned me towards the camera. I looked down at my outfit, I wasn't really dressed to have photo's taken or movies made, but refusing wasn't really an option in this case. I tried to look confident as I stood next to Stan and Joseph trained the camera on me.

"Miss Stackhouse will witness Godfrey's true death on behalf of the vampires from the greater Dallas area. We are in her debt for performing this service."

I got out of shot as soon as I could and Joseph set up the camera on a tripod with Godfrey on his lawn chair in the centre of the viewer. Time passed and the clouds took on a pink purple hue. Soon only Isobel, Stan and I were left in the garden. I asked Isobel how Barry was. She said he was resting. I wasn't sure whether to be relieved or worried about that, but I guessed I could always contact him myself, in my own special way, just to check.

I could see the Stan was struggling to stay outside and I knew it wasn't through any need to pay respects to Godfrey. Stan wanted to make sure he was actually going to do it. I assured Stan that even if Godfrey did change his mind, the chances that he'd be able to get out of the sun quick enough not to be damaged were pretty slim. That seemed to set his mind at ease. I noticed another lawn chair and unfolded it, setting it on the grass a fair few feet away from Godfrey.

"Why did you come to witness this?"

"I owe it to you."

"I am an evil creature."

"Yes, you are." There just wasn't any getting around that. "But you did a good thing, saving me and Pam from Gabe."

"By killing one more man? My conscience hardly knew the difference. There have been so many. At least I spared your friend some humiliation." His voice grabbed at my heart.

"You healed me so we could escape too."

He shrugged. "My blood helped you; I have no need for it now."

The growing light in the sky was still so faint that the security light over the patio doors remained on, and by the dim glow I examined the young, young face. All of a sudden, I began to cry. I guessed that the combination of trauma and exhaustion had just worn me down by that point, add in the thought of watching someone die ... well I think anyone in my situation would have been a little teary.

"That's nice," Godfrey said. His voice was already remote. "Someone to cry for me at the end. I had hardly expected that."

He lay back and closed his eyes, stretching out his arms, welcoming his end.

And then the sun rose.

~v~

I barely remembered getting back to the hotel, let alone making it to my room and climbing into bed. It was like I had discovered a whole new level of tiredness. I was awoken in the evening by Eric's cool hand softly stroking my hip through the baggy t-shirt I was wearing. I turned over and bumped against Eric's evening wood as his hand sneaked towards my breasts.

"How are you feeling tonight?" His voice was so low it was almost a rumble.

"I'm a little achy. No need to ask how you're feeling."

He chuckled lightly and continued his exploration. "Not having you near me when I rose the other night reminded me of how lucky I am. Would you let me remind you of how lucky _you_ are? I'll be very gentle."

Only a crazy girl would say no to an offer like that. And I wasn't crazy. Not anymore. For what may have been the first time, I lay passive as Eric stripped me. My only movements were my involuntary writhing and squirming as he brought me to the edge over and over. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world.

When Eric told me we would have to go back to Stan's nest that night, I was less than happy. I just wanted to go home. But Eric said it was good politics to make sure Farrell was settling back in and say our goodbyes to the nest. I mulled that over and realised that it would be nice if I could see Barry again before we left. Although I wasn't sure if he was still at Stan's, it was easy to check.

_**Barry?**_

_**Sookie, I heard one of the vampires say you'd be coming here tonight.**_

_**That's right, I am. Eric has to see Stan but I was hoping you'd be there so I could talk to you.**_

_**I haven't left. It's actually nice here. Stan says he's got a lot of work for me.**_

_**I bet he has. I know it must seem daunting, being just a bell-boy one moment and then the next...**_

_**Its okay **_I felt a mental shrug from him _**I couldn't be a bell boy forever right? I'll see you when you get here.**_

_**We're leaving soon. See you later.**_

We went downstairs and met with Pam. She had an update on Tray for us, I felt extremely guilty that he'd been so far from my thoughts. The good news was that a group of Weres from the local pack had removed him from the hospital without detection and returned him to Shreveport. The bad news was that he had to have a kidney removed. Tray always enjoyed his beer, now he wouldn't be able to. I could blame myself, but it wasn't my fault. The responsibility sat squarely on the shoulders of Steve Newlin and his band of zealots.

I asked Eric if he knew which hospital Tray was in, so we could send flowers and a card, but he'd already taken care of it. He said he knew I'd ask him to do it, so he figured doing it before I asked would earn him some special treats. Pam was immaculate, as always, you would think nothing had happened to her the night before. But that's how vampires rolled, I guessed. We went outside and got into the car Eric had hired. The previous night I hadn't noticed what a nice car it was. The interior was indulgent and it could accommodate 5 people, Eric usually stuck to sports cars.

It didn't take long to get to Stan's nest but the party was in full swing already. Vampires and humans were milling around, chatting with one another. Farrell was, of course, the centre of attention and looked much better than he had the night before. I spotted Barry across the room and waved, I was relieved when he smiled at me and waved back. I let Eric and Pam know where I'd be and left them to schmooze with their own kind while I spoke with _my_ own kind.

"How are you Barry?" I checked my shield was nice and strong, sure enough I felt a little probing. I raised an eyebrow at Barry and he looked a little sheepish.

"I'm fine. You were right about the ... uh ... healing." He looked around, I understood. There were too many other humans around us to discuss drinking vampire blood.

I smiled and nodded. "Did Isobel explain things to you?"

"Pretty much." He projected his memories of the conversation to me. Isobel had told Barry the same things Eric told me. "She says ... she says I'm hers now. Like I'm a pet or an object."

"Well, that's how vampires tend to view humans I'm afraid." I pulled him further from the group we were next to. "She has to do that so no other vampires will try to take you. Try to keep under the radar, my ... employer was very open with the fact she had a telepath. It caused me some problems. Stay hidden where possible, and call me if you need anything."

Barry nodded then stopped and tilted his head slightly. "Why are there so many people outside?"


	6. Chapter 6

**A Meeting of Minds – part 6**

**Summary:**A 'Sookie, Interrupted' side story. A trip to Dallas to ascertain the whereabouts of a missing vampire leads to Sookie discovering a kindred spirit and showing him a path he hadn't realised was open to him.

**Disclaimer: **Don't own them, never have, thank you Charlaine Harris for letting me play with them. Yes, a lot of stuff is lifted straight from LDID, if it ain't broke...

They were all around us. They circled the house.

Their brains were wound up to fever pitch. If Barry and I hadn't been so engrossed in our conversation, maybe I would have tagged them as they crept towards us. I grabbed Barry's hand and was almost physically overpowered by the clarity I was reading minds with. My look of fear was mirrored in Barry's eyes as a countdown became the loudest thought of all.

"Hit the floor!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. I pulled Barry down with me and we huddled in a corner behind a couch. Our eyes screwed closed instinctively.

Every vampire obeyed. So when the Fellowship opened fire, it was the humans that died.

Barry and I stayed huddled in that corner for what seemed like forever. I could hear Barry sobbing into my shoulder as we clung to each other. Finally, the sound of gunfire subsided and along with it the sound of shattering glass, screaming humans and roaring vampires. When I opened my eyes, the room was full of dust and smelled like blood and gunpowder. Humans were moaning in agony and vampires were hissing in pain as the wounded called out for other survivors. I was about to ask Barry if he was okay when the couch in front of us suddenly moved around ten feet away and I was pulled into Eric's arms.

"Sookie are you well?"

"I ... I'm okay. I'm not hurt, Barry? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine."

His voice was small and he was curled up in a ball in the corner. I saw Eric's nose twitch and thought it was the blood he smelled but as I got closer to Barry, I was hit with the scent of urine. I felt bad for Barry and stood up, looking for Isabel. Surely she would have felt his fear?

"Where's Isabel?"

Eric shrugged and looked towards one of the empty window frames. I saw Joseph giving chase to some of the attackers. I blinked, trying to get a better view through the stuffing from the furniture that floated in the room like snow. Eventually Isabel appeared, looking rosy and well fed. She sauntered over to Barry and curled her lip in disgust. I was angry at her. She had claimed Barry as her human, yet wasn't even able to bring herself to show concern for him. I wondered if there was any way that Barry could renounce her claim, look for his own protection rather than that of a vampire forced on him. Then I realised that I never got to choose who protected me. Maybe I just lucked out?

"We should go. There's no reason for us to linger here."

Just as Eric said it, Pam appeared. She looked just as nourished as Isabel did. I tried to get a last look at Barry as I was being herded out of the door but so many vampires were milling around it was impossible to see him.

_**Barry, if you ever need help, don't hesitate to contact me. It doesn't matter how you do it or what kind of help you need. Promise me?**_

_**You'll help me? No matter what?**_

_**I promise to try, is that good enough?**_

_**It's the best offer I've had so far.**_

I was relieved. I felt his conviction and that he trusted me, just a little bit. I had gotten Barry into this situation, the least I could do is offer him a hand when he needed one.

We flew back to Shreveport that night, making it back to our house around 30 minutes before dawn. Eric started the shower and lifted me, bridal style, into the bathroom. He seemed to realise that after being covered in broken glass and dust from a wave of gunfire, I wouldn't be in the mood for sexy times. We washed each other gently and dried each other the same way before falling into bed.

When I woke the next day, I started unpacking my bags to start some laundry loads. When the first load was started, I ate breakfast and checked my cell for messages. There were a few from Gran and a couple from Jason. They had seen the news footage of my kidnapping. I slapped at my forehead, how could I have been so blind as to think they wouldn't find out? I called Gran before I checked any more messages.

_"Stackhouse residence, Adele speaking."_

"Gran, it's me. I'm so sorry I didn't get in touch sooner. I'm okay, I'm home now, they hurt me but I'm better now."

_"Praise the lord Sookie. When we saw the news, we didn't know what to do. I was sure we'd never see you again. Then they reported that the Fellowship centre had been attacked ... well, we almost lost hope."_

"I'm so sorry I didn't call you to let you know I was alright."  
><em><br>"Calling is fine sweetie but I'd rather see with my own eyes that you're fine. Come here for dinner, tonight, I'll make chicken and dumplings with pumpkin pie for dessert."_

"That sounds too good to resist. I have some things to check but I'll be there before 5. Will Jason be coming too?"

_"I imagine so, he was very worried about you too, Sookie. I'll call him to let him know we're having family dinner and I'll see you tonight. Bye sweetheart!"_

"Bye Gran, see you later!"

I made a list in my head of everything that had to be done now that the debacle that was Dallas was over. First, there was Tray. As I checked more messages, I sighed in relief when I found out that Bobby had called me to let me know which hospital Tray was in and what the visiting hours were. If I got a wriggle on, I've be able to make it for afternoon visiting. Next was the fact that Bill would be rising with his new child tomorrow night. Then there was the Maenad problem, I wondered if Sam had any news about that from his own investigation. I rubbed at my temples with my fingertips; nothing was ever straightforward or easy in my world.

I showered and dressed, bypassing my business clothes for jeans and a checked shirt, and got in my car to go and see my injured body guard. I didn't like being in the hospital, it reminded me too much of Valmont. The smell, the uniforms. I expected one of the staff to take me back to my cell any moment. I wondered if I should have waited until Tray was back home and visited him there but then I gave myself a shake. My irrational fear of medical institutions was a drop in the ocean compared to what Tray was going through. I swallowed my nerves and headed for the room Bobby had told me Tray was in.

When I knocked on the door, I was surprised at how chirpy Tray sounded. He was sitting up in bed, eating from a giant fruit basket with his little boy curled into his side. They had been watching kids TV, Spongebob Squarepants, but the little one was fast asleep right now. I smiled at them.

"You look great Tray! How are you feeling though?"

"I'll be fine. I won't be able to get drunk again but I'm alive. Apparently that has something to do with you. I was out of it for the hospital move, but when I came round I was told that Dallas wasn't safe for me and that the info had come from your messenger."

"That's about right. The ... attackers had a team waiting to take you out if you left Parkland Memorial on two legs."

Tray nodded. "Well, thanks for that."

"If it wasn't for me you wouldn't have been there. I think the last thing you need to do is thank me. You seem ... better than you should be." I knew Were's had accelerated healing but Tray's condition went beyond that. Tray cleared his throat.

"I had a little help. Eric sent Thalia to make sure I made it back to Shreveport. She gave me some vampire blood. It wasn't hers though. She said it was from some stockpile she had and that the vampire it belonged to was now finally dead. It was just a tiny vial, not even enough for a mouthful, but _damn _if it didn't work straight away. The doctor had his palm greased to keep him quiet but he said if it wasn't for my missing kidney, he'd swear I'd never been operated on."

I filed that under 'questions to ask later'. The blood must have been from a very old vampire if it had such an effect with such a small amount.

"So you're definitely going to be okay then?" Tray nodded. "Well, you take as much time as you need, I'm sure we all need a rest after this but I'll tell Eric to find a temporary guard for me. Maybe Sophie-Ann will send Tom Drummond for a spell?"

"That old dog!" Tray laughed. "It'd sure be good to see him again, the dude's a legend! He whooped Colonel Flood in a pack master contest then told everyone he didn't want the job!"

My eyes widened, I knew something had gone on between the two wolves but not that. "Well, maybe I'll make a special request. I'll get going so you can spend some more time with your boy, call me if you need anything okay?"

"Will do, Sookie. Thanks for coming to see me. You could have brought some chocolate though!"

We both laughed and Tray's son stirred. I quietly made my way out of the room and back through the hospital corridors to my car. I still had some time before I had to be at Gran's house, so I decided to stop off at Merlottes to see how Sam was getting on with the Maenad problem. When I entered the bar, everyone turned around to see who was coming in. I was knocked off my feet by a blur of red and blonde and found myself being swung around in a circle.

"Geez Louise Sookie! You sure as hell gave us a fright lil' sis!"

I was put down and swayed on my feet for a second before my brain caught up with what was happening. "Jason you almost gave me a heart attack!

"Well, snap then! Me and Gran were worried sick about you!"

"I know and I've told Gran how sorry I am that I didn't get in touch sooner to let you know I was okay. Things were pretty wild but I'm okay. What's been goin' on in this neck of the woods?"

Jason huffed out a huge breath and led me to a table. We passed Sam at the bar and I smiled and waved at him, he asked if I wanted some tea brought over and I nodded enthusiastically. I hadn't realised how parched I was until refreshment was suggested. We sat down and Jason ran his hands through his hair and stared off into space for a second.

"What's been goin' on here? Damned if I know where to start, Sook. Okay, well Lafayette got murdered and was found in Andy Bellefleur's car. Andy's sister Portia has been tryin' to clear Andy's name, says all the evidence points towards Laffy's death bein' by misdemeanour from some sex party."

"Do you mean death by misadventure?"

Jason pointed at his nose with one hand and at me with the other. "That's the one! Anyway, she's been bringin' all types of weirdo's in here tryin' to get herself invited to one o' the orgies but no-one is gonna fall for it. No-one wants to invite freaky people to an orgy – they want hot chicks and guys like me!"

"I see." I looked over at Sam, knowing he'd been listening in and he nodded to me then jerked his head towards his office and flashed 5 fingers at me. "Well! Things have been wild here too then?"

Jason shrugged. "No more than usual. So how's your man?"

"Eric is fine, he was real mad that I'd been kidnapped and came for me." Jason nodded and muttered 'damn straight he should' under his breath. "Let's just say that I won't be going back to Dallas again anytime soon!"

"The news people said that a terrorist group called the Light of Day inst .. tit .. tute took ya, but then the Fellowship centre gets all wrecked by the vampires tryin' to find you. I think that terrorist group was a cover and that Steve Newlin dude ordered your kidnap!"

I nodded. Jason was dead on and if _he_ had managed to work that out, then there wasn't much hope for Newlin. I noticed the red-haired waitress staring at me, the way her eyes were narrowed made me think twice about dipping into her head. Whatever she was thinking wouldn't be nice, and I'd had enough of that in the last couple of days to last me a good while. I finished my tea and made my excuses to Jason before going back to Sam's office. He held the door open for me and waited until I sat down before he settled in an old chair on the other side of the desk.

"I guess you want to hear about what I've found."

"I would, all Eric and Bill have found is a gravely injured young woman. Her family insisted she be turned rather than die so, right now, she's in the ground somewhere with Bill. Granted, Eric was distracted from the investigation when me and Pam got nabbed but any info would be good."

Sam puffed out his cheeks and leaned back in the chair, swaying slightly and making the piece of furniture creak in protest. "I've made contact with the Maenad. Her name is Callisto and she ... likes my company."

I furrowed my brow at the way Sam was looking at me, then I got what he was saying. Sam and the Maenad had been seeing each other. "You've been ... _dating _a Maenad?"

Sam chuckled a little. "I think _dating_ is the last thing I'd call what me and Callisto do. But one thing hanging out with her has shown me, is that there's a creepy underbelly to this area. It was Callisto who planted Lafayette's body in Andy's car, she said the culprits should be found but she doesn't want them to be found for justice' sake – it's the emotions that will run riot when we find out who did it that she'll feed from."

"So ... you know who did it?"

Sam shook his head. "Nope, but she does. She won't tell me, says she's content playing with me right now."

I matched his blush with my own. "So, she wants tribute and the furore of revealing Lafayette's killers will be like a tribute for her. When we find out what happened to your cook, she'll go away?"

"Looks like." Sam shrugged. "It definitely has something to do with these orgies but I don't know when there'll be another one. Sure, I could run round in animal form looking for evidence but it's hard to carry a cell phone when you're a dog."

I rocked in my chair, thinking, it would need to be someone human and they would need to be invited to a party so their presence wasn't suspect. Said human could go to the party, scout for evidence then break away to make a call to the police if they discovered something. But what if the killers hid the evidence? It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack ... unless you were me.

It seemed pretty dumb, thinking about volunteering to go to a weird orgy just to find out who killed Sam's cook. But it wasn't fair that these people were getting away with murder and an innocent policeman was being accused of it.

"Sam, do you happen to have Portia's number? I have an idea."

After I had spoken to Portia Bellefleur, which was more of a chore than I thought it would be, I had to run so I would be at Gran's in time for dinner. I followed Jason's black truck with pink and aqua swirls in my second hand civic. When we pulled in behind the house, Gran was waiting on the back porch for us. She was running towards me before I even opened the door and wrapped me in a hug as soon as I stood up straight.

"Sookie Stackhouse! I should tan your hide for letting us worry about you! But I know that you probably had a good reason for not getting in touch."

"I'll tell you all about it over dinner Gran."

"You bet you will little lady!"

We all laughed, inside I was wondering how much to tell her. She was a tough old bird and she'd been exposed to a lot of bad stuff in the last year but I didn't want to assume she could handle all the details. In the end I just told her that Pam and I had been held prisoner and that Godric helped us escape. No need to have her fussing over me having my jaw broken or Pam being almost raped. I left out Barry too, even though they'd probably be interested to know that I wasn't the only telepath in the world. I'd ruined his life enough already telling the vampires about him, I didn't need to make it worse by telling even more people – even if I _did_ trust them more than anyone else.

Jason was in the middle of telling us about Crystal, a girl he'd seen around Merlottes and was attempting to woo, when my phone rang. I saw that it was dark outside and predicted that it would be Eric. I'd left a note for him, letting him know where I would be, but I knew I'd be in big trouble for wandering around without a guard.

"Hi, Eric."

_"Hello my dear, did you see Tray at the hospital?"_

"Yes, I did. I'm at Gran's right now but there's something I need to talk to you about when I get home. Will you be there or do you have work?"

_"I'll be at Fangtasia most of the evening, I'm afraid, did Alcide talk to you?"_

"Alcide? No. Why?"

_"Well, he was shadowing you today. You didn't think you would be without protection just because Tray is incapacitated did you?"_

"Well ... I figured I'd be getting a replacement but didn't realise one has already been arranged."

_"Alcide volunteered. It's returning the favour you did the wolves by alerting them to the danger Tray was in."_

"I need to talk to you about what Thalia did for Tray, I'm interested in ... the source." I didn't want to say too much in case Gran or Jason were listening in. "I'll come and see you in Fangtasia. I have news about the little problem in the woods."

_"Really? I'll look forward to seeing you Lover. Drive safely."_

"I will. See you soon baby."

I said my goodbyes to Gran and Jason and got on the road to Shreveport. My head was buzzing with all the information of the day and the questions I had and the plans I had ... I hoped Eric wouldn't be swamped with Area business and have time to talk to me in depth.

I entered Fangtasia through the employee entrance, as always, I didn't like to saunter up to the front of the queue to get in – that just pissed off the people who were waiting and drew attention to me. Eric was in his booth with his laptop and a couple of other vampires. He looked at me when I came in and nodded to the bar, so I settled on one of the stools until he was finished with his business. Chow placed a glass of ginger ale in front of me. He had been brought in to replace Longshadow. The Native American vampire had siphoned $60,000 from the Fangtasia accounts for treatment for his Sino-AIDS but it hadn't done him a lick of good. Instead of dying from a disease, he was disgraced and sent back to his maker with nothing but the shirt on his back. I had helped out finding who was actually taking the money but stayed firmly in the background once I had discovered the details.

Eric had taken great pains to have everything that Longshadow owned sold off at an auction to recoup the missing money. Longshadow had not only stolen from his business partner – but the Sherriff he had sworn fealty to. Eric was well within his rights to do what he did, according to Vampire law anyway.

Pam sat next to me and we chatted about how busy the club was, how strange some of the customers' outfits were and how Bill was going to handle being a maker. Pam seemed to like being able to just ... talk to me. Not many humans were into chatting with vampires, they just wanted the vampire to have sex with them and bite them. We didn't spent a lot of time together when I first moved in with Eric, she made it plain she thought he was crazy for trusting me with so much. But she came around when she realised I had no intention of harming her maker in any way. We'd developed an odd form of friendship but it was friendship nonetheless.

Eric tapped me on the shoulder and told me to wait in the office for him while he spoke to Pam about something. Eric's office was ... interesting. It had a big squashy couch but that was the only homely or soft thing in it. He was tidy ... in his office anyway, at home it was a totally different story, but his office had a place for everything and everything was in its place. I curled up on the couch and was actually starting to drift off for a nap when Eric came in.

"Sookie, you have news of the Maenad?" He picked me up off the couch and set me on his knee, nuzzling the top of my head.

"Yes. We were right that Lafayette's death attracted Callisto but she doesn't want booze or an animal as tribute. She wants Lafayette's killers found so she can feed from the rage it'll incite. An innocent man has been accused, so the amount rage will be pretty big. Basically she wants to turn Bon Temps inside out."

"I see. So the Maenad has a name ... Callisto. How can we find out who the killers are and get rid of her before she causes more damage?"

"Uh ... well, that's where I come in. I have a plan but I don't know if you'll want to play the part I had earmarked for you."

"A plan? And how would _I_ fit into this plan."

"Oh, not just you! I'll be there and Portia and Pam would be good too."

Eric laughed. "I have no idea what you've cooked up Dear One but I'm extremely intrigued!"


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary: **A 'Sookie, Interrupted' side story. A trip to Dallas leads to Sookie discovering a kindred spirit and showing him a path he hadn't realised was open to him.  
><strong>Disclaimer: <strong>Characters owned by C. Harris.

**A Meeting of Minds - Part 7**

Pam came into Eric's office to let him know his next appointment was waiting for him. I was a little annoyed because I hadn't had the chance to ask about the blood that Thalia gave Tray. I whined about it and Eric laughed.

"There's no great mystery Sookie. Thalia works in conjunction with Dr. Ludwig. She is, quite possibly, the oldest vampire in the state, no-one knows exactly how old she is but she works for me in a special capacity. Thalia hunts any rogue vampires in my area, when she catches them, she kills them. The older ones have their blood siphoned by Dr. Ludwig before they meet their final death and it's used to decrease the healing time on those we value."

Well_ that_ was disappointing. I thought it would have been something much more interesting. Although, this mysterious Dr. Ludwig had me intrigued; but I wasn't about to seriously injure myself so I could meet her. I went over our plans, again, for the next evening for Pam's benefit, then I kissed Eric goodbye and patted Pam on the shoulder (one day, perhaps, we would get to full hugging.) before I drove home. When I got to the large tract home Eric and I shared, I parked in the garage and stood next to my car. I saw headlights turn off a ways down the road and smiled.

"Alcide? Are you there?" I saw him creep out from between two trees at the end of the driveway. "Why have you been hiding all day?"

"I didn't want to crowd you." His swirly red brain gave him away. He was lying. Why he was lying was unknown but the fact that he was concerned me.

"Uh huh. Care to try that one again? Why don't you come inside?"

"I'd rather not." He looked over his shoulder, he was worried about something.

"Alcide, if you have problems and they land on my doorstep, I will _not _be happy. I'll ask you again. Do you want to come inside and explain to me, truthfully, why you haven't revealed yourself?"

"Sookie." He sighed and rubbed at his forehead. "I'm trying not to get you involved in this. Really. Just let me do the job I volunteered for in the way I want to do it."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Fine."

I watched him slink back into the shadows at the perimeter of the garden and went into the house. Once I'd had a snack and ironed my suit for going to work the next day, I settled in front of the TV to wait for Eric to come home. I smiled when I noticed that 'While You Were Sleeping' was on, even though it made me cry a little at the end, I enjoyed watching it.

I noticed Alcide's car again when I was driving to the office. It made me miss Tray all the more. We always drove together. The days Tray had his boy, he would pick me up in his truck and the days he had to work, he caught a cab to my house and we'd take my car. Even my 'bouncer' Andy asked why Alcide wouldn't be riding with me when I called him to let him know I'd be working that day. My cell went off as I was fishing my briefcase from the back seat.

"Hello, Sookie Stackhouse speaking."

_"Sookie, its Portia. I spoke to Andy and Jason about what we're planning. I don't see why I had to do it though."_

"Don't whine, Portia, it's unbecoming. We both want this murder put to bed, I need you to be invited to the next party; you need me to find out the truth. Is it such a hardship to do a little of the work?"

_"I don't think I need to remind you that my reputation is on the line here ..."_

"Oh boo hoo! Your brother's reputation and job are in the toilet, get some perspective. We meet at Merlotte's, tonight, at the previously arranged time. I'll see you there."

I hung up on the call before she could get self-righteous on me. It made me a little sad that, even though we had the same goal, I was helping her but she still couldn't bring herself to be nice to me. Just because she was some big shot lawyer, she thought she was better than everyone else in Bon Temps. Thinking that you're better than someone else and _acting _like you're better than someone else are two completely different things. Add to that, I had to tell her I had a 'talent'. It galled me that here I was, a small business owner, independent woman and a telepath to boot, and she couldn't see her way to being civil because my Gran lived in a run-down farmhouse. I grabbed my case, locked the car and waved to Andy. He opened the door for me, as usual. Even though I had a key, Andy always got to the office before me and opened up to check that nothing nasty had been left for me.

"Mornin' Sook. Your answering machine is gonna set off an epileptic fit it's flashing so much!"

I laughed. "Just another busy day at the office, Andy!"

It took me most of the day to get through my messages and call back clients to make appointments and contact potential candidates to come in for interviews. Then I had to go through the available positions and phone all my existing candidates to set them up in the right jobs. Before I knew it, it was 5pm and even though I could have stayed a couple more hours to get more done, I had to go home, eat and change for my meeting with Portia.

"See you tomorrow Andy!"

"Sook." Andy nodded towards Alcide's car. "Is he supposed to just hang around like that?"

I shrugged. "I have no clue what he's doing Andy, last night he told me to let him do the job in his own way so ... anyhow, I gotta run."

I sped home and threw my dinner down my gullet before changing into a 'joke' dress that Pam had bought me. It was tight, black, made of PVC and had zips in strategic places; she had told me I'd need to wear it if I was ever in Fangtasia – like a uniform. She had me with that little joke for about four days until Eric saw me trying to squeeze into it and asked me what the hell I was doing. I called Jason to make sure that Portia had passed on all of the information, she had, then I realised I would need to run interference with Gran too. Sighing, I dialled her number to let her know what the gossips would be talking about for the next week and tried to make sure the monstrosity of an outfit covered both of my ass cheeks.

_"Stackhouse residence, Adele speaking."_

"Hi Gran, I just wanted to let you know you might hear some ... strange rumours about me and Portia ... and some other folks. None of its true, we're just ... putting on an act to try and solve a riddle."

_"What kind of rumours? And what riddle? Is this about Andy being accused of that cooks murder?"_

"Oh ... **you** know, that me and Portia are lesbian lovers who ... uh ... involve vampires. We're trying to get invited to one of the orgies, we think that whoever runs them is involved with Lafayette's death and I can find out who and also where they might have left clues."

_"Oh Sookie."_ Gran sighed._ "You know I don't put stock in half of what the town gossips come up with but please tell me you'll be careful?"_

"I will Gran, I promise."

_"Okay child, you take care now. Oh! Should I try to put people right about the rumours or ..."_

"No! Until someone is arrested for Lafayette's killing just let them think what they wanna think."

_"Okay sweetheart. Take care ... please."_

"I already told you I would! Bye Gran. Love you!"

_"I love you too Sookie!"_

I had a last check over in the mirror. I looked like a prostitute but that was the point. For Portia to be invited to the orgy, she had to have a slutty girlfriend right? Grabbing a long coat from the back of my wardrobe, I went to the garage and got in my car. I spent the whole drive to Merlottes hoping I wouldn't be pulled over for anything and that Alcide would be far enough behind me that he wouldn't be able to discern what I was wearing.

I sat in my car for quite a while after pulling into the parking lot at Merlottes. The thought of parading myself like we had planned wasn't sounding so good right now but I'd made a promise and in a couple of hours I'd have Eric and Pam to back me up. I sent a text to Portia to let her know I was there and got a reply a moment later to tell me that she was waiting in a booth for me. The plan was for Portia and I to spend the whole evening there, we would have dinner and act as a couple. Then Eric and Pam would show up and we'd act as a group. I just hoped Portia could pull the stick out of her ass long enough for this to score an invite to the orgy.

Obviously her ploy of taking a heavily pierced Goth guy to the local football match last night hadn't worked or she'd have called me. Wouldn't she? I shook my hair out and stalked into the bar, the light was just starting to fade as I opened the door. The bar was quite full and I let my coat slip from my shoulders as I headed for Portia's table. I kept my shields up tight but I couldn't fail to notice that all eyes were on me. It felt good and mortifying at the same time. I'd always known I had been born a fair bit away from the ugly tree, but I was just pretty. Not stunning or gorgeous. My boobs were nice, a lot of guys thought about my boobs but a lot of guys thought about a lot of women's boobs. I tried not to listen too much but sometimes stuff just gets through. I saw Portia and smiled a, what I hoped was, sexy smile. She was wearing a high necked but sleeveless shirt and a jean skirt that would probably come to mid-thigh when she stood up. Stopping in front of her, I bent over to give her a peck on the cheek before I sat down.

She looked terrified. That made two of us.

I made sure to sit in the booth right next to her so we could talk quietly and pressed my hand on her knee to stop it from jumping up and down under the table.

"Honey, I missed you!" I lowered my voice and leaned closer. "Portia get a grip! You've been going all out to get an invite to this damn orgy, you agreed to let me help you so just suck it up and look at my tits!"

Portia closed her eyes and straightened her back. You could have knocked me over with a feather when she opened her eyes, licked her lips and pulled me closer to her by grabbing my scantily clad ass.

"Stop telling me what to do Stackhouse! I think I know the people in this town better than you do and right now I can tell you exactly who is paying us the most attention."

I was a little shocked at her tone but it was obvious that I had, somehow, woken a sleeping beast. It was true that Portia thought she was better than me, but now it seemed she wanted to prove it. At least the Merlottes patrons would get a show. We continued to sit very close during our meal, whispering about who was staring and who wasn't, punctuating the conversation with fake giggles. Around an hour after sunset my cell buzzed in my purse, Eric had sent me a text.

"Eric and Pam will be here in 10 minutes. Are you ready for this?"

I could see the indignation flash in Portia's muddy brown eyes. "Of course I'm ready! So far the only anomaly, you do know what an anomaly is don't you?" I narrowed my eyes and nodded slowly. "The only anomaly is that usually Mike Spencer only has one beer after dinner, tonight he's ordered another and he hasn't been able to take his eyes off us."

"So either he's just a perv or he's a perv looking for people to invite to a perv party."

"Exactly."

I started feeding Portia little pieces of my chicken strips, trying to look turned on when she sucked on my fingers. The whole thing just made me want to go up to a serious actor and give their hand a darn good shake. I asked Portia to describe what Mike Spencer looked like and stood up to take a trip to the ladies room. I spotted him straight away; he was the one with drool over his chin. I swallowed down my desire to shudder with revulsion and instead winked and licked my lips as I walked past him. I locked on to his thoughts and was glad my back was now to him so he couldn't see my face.

_God that's hot. Portia ain't much ta look at but seein' her with Sookie, damn! I could sell tickets to that show._

I cut the connection when he started to imagine himself naked next to Portia and me and locked myself in a cubicle. I took a few deep breaths to centre myself and took care of my needs before washing my hands and going back out to the bar. I got back to our table just as Eric and Pam walked in, unfortunately they had to walk past my brother to get to me and Portia. And there was no way Jason was going to let Pam walk past without at least saying hello to her.

"Hey Paminator! You free tonight?"

Pam quirked an eyebrow at Jason and looked over her shoulder to make sure everyone was listening to her. "No, tonight Eric and I will be having an incredibly hot four in the bed romp with your sister and her lesbian fling."

My eyes were drawn to Mike, he was staring open mouthed at Pam. I managed to look away as his gaze darted to our table. I listened in on him again, hoping I wouldn't see something I didn't want to see.

_I'll wait 'til Portia goes to the restroom, she'll need to go soon. I can stop her on her way by._

Eric and Pam squeezed into the booth with us, Eric next to Portia and Pam next to me. There was plenty of room but they wanted it to look like we couldn't wait to be joined at the pelvis. Portia froze a little when Eric brushed some of her mousy hair away from her face but I could tell it was only because he was a vampire. The expression on her face when she saw him walk over told me she had no problem with the way he looked at all. I smiled at Eric and Pam, Pam had a glint in her eye and I remembered her saying how much she was looking forward to playing lesbian with me. I really didn't think this through at all. I spoke in the quietest voice I could, knowing that Portia was listening intently and the vampires would hear anyway.

"Mike is waiting for Portia to go to the restroom. My guess is that he'll invite her to a party when he stops her. He's been thinking about us but since you guys walked in he's become very resolved about something."

I heard Portia whisper 'Oh Thank God!' under her breath and smiled. I caught Eric staring at my outfit but before he (or I) could say anything I almost jumped out of my skin when I felt Pam licking my neck. I shot a glance at Eric, who was grinning at my discomfort. That made me mad. I shifted a little in my seat and snaked a hand around the back of Pam's neck. Then I kissed her. Not just a peck but a big 'ol open mouthed, tongue tussle. When I pulled away I turned back to my boyfriend and smiled.

"See? I can roll with the punches baby."

"Indeed." He tried to look angry but I could see he was amused at my efforts to shock him.

Portia tugged at her skirt and mumbled about getting this scene wrapped up. Pam and I moved out of the booth so she could get out and we watched her walk towards Mike. When he stopped her, I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding. I leaned closer to Eric as he repeated what Mike had said to her, I was too far away to hear but the vampires would have probably heard them whisper.

"Yes, he's asking her to a party. At someone called Jan's house." I didn't have a clue who this Jan person might be. "It's tomorrow night."

Pam looked at Eric. "Bill is rising with Jessica tonight. You may be needed tomorrow Eric."

Eric closed his eyes. "Bill should be perfectly capable of filling out the registration forms on his own. I'm not letting Sookie go to this ... party with a homely lawyer for protection, especially if the Maenad decides to make an appearance."

"Besides." I spoke up. "We need Eric so he can pretend to be gay and maybe trigger some memories of Lafayette."

Eric stiffened next to me. "And just when were you planning to inform me of this development?"

I grinned hopefully. "I just thought you'd be able to roll with the punches too."

When Portia came back from the bathroom, she was very confused as to why Pam was cackling with joy and Eric was sitting in the booth with his head in his hands.

Once we had left the bar it was a relief to give up the act. Portia and I went back to keeping a respectable distance but Pam had to be told by Eric that her fun was over for the evening. I wasn't looking forward to picking up my lesbian girlfriend persona the next night but it was just one more night, right?

The drive home was uncomfortable. The heat in Merlottes coupled with my nerves had made moisture gather inside my dress. I couldn't wait to get inside and have a shower, if I could peel the thing off without taking some skin with it; that was. That made me realise that I had worn the only slutty outfit I had. Pam had followed us back to discuss arrangements for the party; the first thing I wanted to address was clothing.

"What do I wear to an orgy?"

Pam laughed. "As little as possible!"

I blanched but Eric put his hand on my knee. "The last time I was at an orgy, I wore an animal skin."

"Was it so long ago you didn't have proper clothes or was there a theme?"

"It was ... impromptu. I had been scouring a battlefield for sustenance, wearing the skin of a bear for camouflage until the fighters had left the injured to die. While on my way back to my resting place I came across a group of gypsies who had partaken in some interesting berries." He grinned at me. "Who was I to pass up such an opportunity?"

I shook my head to try and get rid of the images my imagination was coming up with. "That still doesn't answer my question."

Pam sighed. "Keep it simple, tight and show as much skin as you can. You do have lovely skin Sookie."

"Uh ... thank you. So ... lingerie?" Both vampires nodded.

"Am I to attend?" Pam grinned.

"I don't think your presence will be required, as Sookie mentioned earlier – we want them thinking about men, specifically homosexual, so she can guide their thoughts to the incident with the dead human."

Pam nodded but didn't look too disappointed. If only I could get out of going so easily.


	8. Chapter 8

A Meeting of Minds – Part 8

**Summary: **A 'Sookie, Interrupted' side story. A trip to Dallas leads to Sookie discovering a kindred spirit and showing him a path he hadn't realised was open to him.  
><strong>Disclaimer: <strong>Characters owned by C. Harris.

I woke the next day feeling deliciously sore in all the right places; from the ache in my arms to the muscles in my thighs shouting at me for using them so much the night before. I padded out of our bedroom, through the light-tight vestibule and downstairs to the kitchen for something to eat. I was making an omelette when I remembered what I was supposed to be doing that evening. My appetite vanished. I finished cooking and ate it anyway – a girl has to keep her strength up when she's involved with a vampire like Eric. My cell started ringing as I was buttoning up my blouse after a shower. Thinking it was probably Portia I picked up without checking the caller ID.

"Hi, it's Sookie."

"_Sookie? It's Barry. Uh ... Barry from Dallas?"_

"Hi Barry. Did you think I would forget who you were?"

"_I ... I wasn't sure. I wanted to talk to you about ... stuff."_

"Well, I'm just about to leave for work but I've got some time. What did you want to talk about?"

"_You work? For the vamps during the day?"_

"Not now, I used to. I didn't always have the independence I have now, I used to live with the vampires in a big compound and spent my days reading all the staff and donors there."

"_What do you do now?"_

"I have my own business. I run a personnel consultancy, making sure people have jobs and the people in jobs for Supe clients aren't there for ulterior motives."

"_Wow ... that sounds cool! Right now Stan and Isobel have me reading all the humans at their bar. It's pretty ..."_

"Boring?"

"_Yes! It's the same questions all the time, I found someone trying to steal money yesterday but ... does it get easier? More interesting?"_

"It can, with time. All of the stuff you're doing now is a one-time thing. After you've caught up with the existing people on their books, you just need to vet the new starts."

"_Then I can be like you, off doing my own thing for the majority of my time?"_

"I guess; it just depends on what kind of contract they give you."

"_Contract? You have a contract?"_

I closed my eyes and sighed internally, once again counting my lucky stars that the Queen was so in touch with small human things like that. "You need a contract Barry. Do you have email or a fax I could send something to?"

"_Yeah."_

"Okay, I'm going to send you copies of my contracts I've had with Louisiana. There will be a bunch of stuff missing but it's the wording and clauses you'll need more than anything. Just take them to Stan and show them to him."

"_You think he'll appreciate that? Won't he be more likely to just ... I dunno ... kill me?"_

"Barry, we're telepaths, the only two known telepaths in North America right now. Stan is probably fully aware that you could take that contract and show it to another state and you'll get snapped up in a moment."

"_I would?"_

"Sure, but don't do that. Stan seems nice, for a vampire. He just isn't used to dealing with humans."

"_Okay, I'll do it!"_

I smiled as I wrote down the fax number Barry gave me. I would just cut up some post-its to hide my salary before I sent them and he'd have a great point to negotiate from. I finished getting ready in record time and drove to work. Alcide was following me again. I pulled into a branch of Wendy's and parked up, getting out and waiting for Alcide to do the same. I had to stomp my foot in frustration when he parked on the other side of the lot and sat in his car staring at me. I stalked over to him and slapped the driver's window so hard I hurt my hand. Alcide sighed and got out of the car.

"I've had it! I'm sorry Alcide, I know you're just doing your volunteering thing but it feels like I'm being stalked!"

He stood with his arms folded, a frown on his face. I thought, for a moment, that if he cheered up he would be very handsome. Just as he was about to speak, a car screeched to a halt next to us and a very irate woman with the strangest hair style I've ever seen jumped out.

"I knew it! I _knew_!" She huffed, her cheeks pink with anger. "How could you do this to me?"

Alcide stepped towards her with his palms outstretched. "Debbie, this isn't what you think it is."

"Really? You meeting up with some blonde bimbo in a parking lot isn't suspicious?"

"Uh ... excuse me?" I waved my hand to get her attention, I was sorry I got it. The look she gave me made me wish I'd packed clean panties in my purse. "Do you think that we're ... together?"

"If I want your point of view, I'll beat it out of you." She snarled before turning back to Alcide. "Are you going to explain? I thought we were working things out?"

"Debbie." Alcide sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "This is Sookie; I'm protecting her since Tray is out of action."

"And you expect me to believe that?" Debbie sneered.

"It's true." I said, extending my hand. "I'm Sookie Stackhouse; Alcide is filling in for my regular guard while he recuperates."

She slapped my hand away and poked me in the chest with one of her bony fingers. "And I'm his goddamn girlfriend! If I hear about any funny business going on between you two ... you're first Blondie."

Alcide rubbed his hands on Debbie's arms and gently pulled her away from me. "Debs, come on! You know I sometimes have to do pack stuff; this is one of those things. She goes to work; I follow to make sure she doesn't get ganked – that's all."

He eventually managed to convince her to get back in her car. I was now late for work and knew that Andy would be getting antsy. I continued on my way to the office but couldn't shake the feeling that I had just made an enemy out of someone by doing absolutely nothing wrong. It was obvious that Debbie was unhinged and it made me wonder about Alcide's own mentality if he was involved with her. At least now I knew why he was being so weird about getting in close proximity to me while on guard. Crazy chicks will do that to a guy.

Thankfully, I didn't have much time to think about my dreaded task while I was in the office. I was so busy I had to get my lunch delivered and eat it while I was emailing the application packs to potential candidates. Before I knew it, Andy was peeking in the door to tell me it was 6pm. I sighed, not in relief that another work day was over, but in resignation that tonight was actually happening. My one bright spot on the drive home was a call from Tray telling me that he'd be picking up his guard duty again the next day.

I made myself something to eat when I got home, but I don't think I tasted any of it. I chewed the pork chops, carrots and mashed potato, but everything seemed to be cardboard flavoured. My fork clattered against the plate as I dropped it. Why was I so nervous about this? Deep down I knew it wasn't just the thought of being semi-naked in front of a group of people who knew my Gran. It was the Maenad. She wanted to cause chaos and here I was, trying to tie up the loose ends that she left. Eric had told me about poor Jessica, she had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. What would this Maenad do to me if she didn't like the fact I was sticking my nose in?

Eric had said that a Maenad 'sent her madness' the last time he encountered one. Would my 'different' mind make me more susceptible to _this _Maenad's madness? Or would the shields around my mind protect me from that kind of intrusion the same as the thoughts of others? Like it or not, I had put myself in this position and now I just had to deal with whatever tonight was going to throw at me. I checked the time, 7pm, Eric would be coming to life soon and we had to meet Portia at 8.30pm. I went upstairs to scowl at my 'outfit' some more.

The camisole and French knicker set I was wearing kept annoying me on the car ride to Bon Temps. The straps kept falling down and the bottoms kept riding up between my butt cheeks. I spent the whole journey fiddling with it, much to Eric's amusement.

"You can take them off as soon as we get home, if that's any consolation?"

"It's not." I huffed. "How am I supposed to act sexy - not just sexy but turned on _and_ concentrate enough to read minds when my outfit is trying to crawl up my ass? And speaking of outfits, you haven't shown me what you're wearing."

"I wanted it to be a ... surprise. I know you wanted me to act homosexual but I didn't think I could convince these humans that I was a ... uh ... screaming queen? Is that the phrase?"

I nodded. "So you're not wearing a feather boa, is your outfit even a little gay looking?"

Eric chuckled and I looked over, noticing his fangs making an appearance. "Uh ... honey, could you maybe control the fangs a little more? The last thing we need is for these people to freak out and wind up scared of you."

We picked Portia up at the street corner near her house; I guess she didn't want her Grandmother, Caroline, seeing her being picked up. Even if the chances of someone recognising either myself or Eric was slim. Like me and Eric, Portia was wearing a knee length trench coat. I wondered if that made us more or less obvious. I also wondered that if her previous evening's attire had been racy, or what she considered to be racy, what would she consider to be slutty? As Portia didn't speak to us, even to say hello, I spent the rest of the drive imagining her in a neck to knee night gown and spending the whole orgy in a corner nursing a glass of lemonade.

When Portia did speak, it was to give us directions to Mimosa Lake. She sounded very shaky; whether it was nerves or Eric's driving I couldn't tell. We turned into the driveway and Eric frowned as his car bumped along the rutted surface. He turned off the engine and we sat in silence.

"I guess this is it." I tried to sound chirpy and enthusiastic. I don't think it worked.

"Yeah." Portia made no effort to sound chirpy or enthusiastic.

"Well, ladies, let's get this over and done with." Before I could turn to open my door, Eric grabbed me and kissed me. Hard. Passionately. It left me a little breathless. "That's better; you look more ... amenable to further kisses now."

All I could do was nod while Portia huffed and muttered under her breath. Eric was at my side of the car before I could get the door fully open and he helped me to my feet. There was a mutual straightening of coats before we made our way up the steps onto the large front porch. The screen door made a hideous noise as Eric pulled it open and Portia grimaced before stepping forward and knocking on the door.

"Who is it?"

"It's Portia and ... friends."

"Oh goodie! Come on in!"

We opened the door and instantly noticed everyone staring at us. The hostess, I assumed it was Jan Fowler, was wearing a slip and her hair and make-up were very glamorous for a party in the middle of nowhere. Eric took off his coat first and I had to bite back my laughter. He was wearing a pink tank top, which showed off his wonderful arms beautifully, and a pair of Lycra leggings. I had no idea where he got them but figured they had to be special order. I doubted a single store stocked pink and aqua Lycra leggings in extra large, tall sizes. I decided to go next, removing my coat and watching the other party goers scrutinise my cami set. Jan took our coats and held her hand out for Portia's. Portia reluctantly revealed her 'outfit'. It was a strappy mini dress with a flirty looking skirt. It was a nice dress, I would have considered it for a summer outing if it was a little longer but I could tell everyone in the room was disappointed she wasn't close to being naked. I noticed that many of them only briefly glanced at me and Portia then went straight back to staring at Eric. Jan was one of the main offenders.

"Is it okay that we brought a friend?"

"It's more than okay!" She licked her lips, her eyes never ventured above Eric's waist. I could understand that, the Lycra wasn't really hiding much. I was quite distracted myself. "Would you like some drinks?"

"Blood?" Eric asked hopefully.

"I think there's some O in the fridge, we ... uh ... pretend sometimes."

"Well, there won't be any pretending tonight." Eric raised his eyebrow and moved further into the room.

I noticed him stroke one man's shoulder, Tara was sitting next to him so I guessed it was her fiancé, Eggs. She wasn't happy to be there. She had made great efforts to look good but when I smiled at her she looked away. I didn't need to be a telepath to recognise shame. I blanched when I saw Mike Spencer lounging on a sofa wearing nothing but a smile. When I looked down, there was a very out of place soft, shaggy rug. It was at odds with the rest of the room, which was full of beat up old furniture covered with pillows and cushions. Some of the objects on the floor were completely unknown to me. I had seen a great many vibrators in the minds of other people but these sex toys were different.

I pasted on a smile and returned a hug that was forced upon me by a large breasted lady. Her milk-chocolate skin was shiny, like it had been oiled. Mike tried to grab my hand but I side-stepped him and made my way over to Tara. He accosted Portia instead, much to her intense displeasure. I sat next to her, which was very uncomfortable as she had a man kissing up the inside of her thigh. I guessed it was more uncomfortable for her than me though.

"I sure never thought I'd see you here Sook."

I patted her knee, she was miserable. She was smiling but it didn't reach her eyes. Eggs interest in Eric may or may not have had something to do with that. Before I could say anything else, Portia was at my side. Her eyes shone with fear. I stood up and she attached herself to me. She was stroking her fingers back and forth across my forehead and staring at me, like she was trying to tell me something. The pieces finally clicked and I peeked into her head.

_I hate this. I hate this. We need to get out of here before I puke. Do your thing and get us out of here!_

I wasn't exactly having a blast myself, seeing as someone had started fumbling their way up the inside of my camisole while I was listening to Portia. When I turned my head, it was Eggs, but he wasn't looking at me. He was looking at Eric.

"You're friend is really big." He murmured into my ear. Portia sprang into action, in a manner of speaking, to try and speed things along.

"Yes, Eric is huge. Much bigger than Lafayette."

Eggs nodded but his thoughts never strayed from Eric. Eric's butt, mostly, and what else was under Eric's leggings. I closed my eyes and willed something, anything to distract Eggs from his quest. When his hands came up to cup my breasts I must have been sending a signal or something because I felt another pair of hands coming up to remove the ones belonging to Eggs. The new hands were cold. I opened my eyes to find Eric in front of me, he had his arms around me but his hands were touching Eggs. And Eggs hands were now roaming Eric's body. I was effectively trapped between the two men. Portia was looking at us with disgust; I frowned at her and looked back at Eric. He gave me a significant look and leaned in to kiss me. I knew what he was doing; he was making me appear busy so I could concentrate. With Eggs pressed up against me I was getting his thoughts loud and clear. A little too clear.

He was remembering Lafayette. The thin brown body, talented fingers and heavily made up eyes. I could almost taste his memories as the suggestions Lafayette whispered to him were replayed. Then the happy memories were being replaced by other, more unpleasant ones. Lafayette's shrill voice, protesting, begging ...

I pulled out of his mind and focussed somewhere else. Jan Fowler was behind Eric; touching parts of him I really didn't like her touching. Her mind was consumed with my Vampire. On the other side of the room Mike Spencer was in a tangle of limbs with the hugging lady, he was imagining her brown skin was the skin of someone else. Limp, lifeless brown skin. I could hear Lafayette's threats, if they didn't stop hurting him the whole town would know what they were doing. I could see Mike's own hands beating at Lafayette, the man who had been kissing Tara's thighs was kneeling on Lafayette's chest.

I had to get out of there. I whispered in Eric's ear, low enough that only he would hear me. He acted fast, picking me up and throwing me over his shoulder and grabbing Portia around the waist.

"I don't think these ladies are warmed up enough. Let me see what I can do."

"Oh yeah!" Mike growled. "I'd love to see what these girls can do."

Eric walked out of the house and sat down on the hood of his car, arranging me on his lap before picking Portia up and sitting her next to him and holding her close to his body.

"They are watching. Sookie, what did you learn?"

"I learned how awful that kind of casual sex was. It's so ... soulless."

Portia nodded. "I have no idea how people can enjoy that."

I sighed and rested my head on Eric's shoulder, putting a hand on Portia's arm. "I didn't learn much of anything. I know what they did but ... that's all. And my kind of evidence isn't permissible in court."

"So all this ... was for nothing?" Portia sobbed faintly and let her head fall onto Eric's other shoulder.

There was a rustling in the bushes before Andy Bellefleur appeared, waving a gun around. "Portia, step away from the vampire."

Portia eased herself from the hood and placed her hands in front of her, trying to placate her brother. As it turned out, Eric was right. They had been watching. A few of the people from the orgy were gathering on the porch. Most of them naked. Andy swayed and cocked his gun.

"Stand together in a group!" It was obvious that Andy had had a lot to drink, although in his position I couldn't really blame him.

Eric and I stood, my vampire placing me behind him protectively. "Have you dealt with a vampire before?"

"No." Andy grinned. "But I know I can kill you with silver bullets."

I knew he was wrong on that count; a silver bullet could wound a vampire significantly if it hit a vital organ. But it wouldn't kill one. I kept my mouth shut. Correcting Andy right now would open a whole can of worms. We backed towards the porch, watching as Portia slowly made her way to stand next to Andy.

"Stackhouse, over here. Portia told me all about your little _excursion_. Tell me what you heard in there."

I looked to Eric and he nodded. I knew he could get to me extremely fast if Andy tried to hurt me. As I was walking towards Andy with his shaking gun, I heard a dog whine at the edge of the woods. Andy looked over at where the noise came from.

"What the hell is that dog doin' here?"

"I ... I don't know." I looked at the dog and it cocked its head to one side and pawed at its face. I could have rolled my eyes when I realised it was Sam. "Just don't shoot it okay?"

Andy looked at me like I was nuts. "I would never shoot a dog!"

He grabbed me as soon as I got close to him, digging his fingers into the back of my neck like I was a naughty kitten. Sam the dog growled at him. I glanced at Eric, he was being groped by Jan Fowler but his eyes were intently watching what was going on where I was. A voice came from behind us.

"Who is being held like a little cub?" I watched as she walked around to stand in front of us. Her hair was a tangled mass of black and she wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing. "I am Callisto."

"Sookie Stackhouse." I croaked out.

"And who is this stalwart brave grasping at your neck?"

"Uh ... this is Andy Bellefleur. He has a problem." I felt my skin crawl as she moved closer. I noticed Eric had started moving away from the humans he'd been standing with. That wasn't good.

She looked at Andy. "You have never seen anything like me, have you?"

"No." Andy replied in a dazed voice.

"Am I beautiful?" Andy nodded. "Do I deserve tribute?"

"Yes." I felt Andy sway behind me as he answered.

"I love drunkenness, and _you_ are very drunk." Callisto beamed at him. "I love pleasures of the flesh and these people are full of lust. This is my kind of place."

"Okay." Andy sounded uncertain. "But one of these people is a murderer and I need to know which one."

"Not just one." I muttered, earning me another shake. I was getting pretty tired of being treated like a doll. Callisto had gotten close enough to touch me, when she stroked my face I could smell earth and wine from her hands.

"You are not drunk." She cocked her head to the side as I shook my head from side to side. "And you have not had pleasures of the flesh this evening."

"Oh, just give me time." I said, for some reason this comment made her laugh. A lot. It was a high whooping laugh that went on and on.

Andy let go of me quite suddenly. I don't know what the people from the house thought they saw, but Andy knew he was looking at a supernatural creature.

"Come on up here new girl." Mike Spencer stood on the porch and called to Callisto. "Let's have a look atcha."

I was sitting in the dirt with Sam the dog licking my face. From where I was, I could see Callisto's arm snake around Andy's waist. Andy moved his gun into his other hand so he could return the compliment.

"Now, what did you want to know?" Callisto crooned into his ear calmly.

"One of those people killed a man named Lafayette, and I want to know which one." Andy's drunken confidence was shining.

"Of course you do darling." Callisto stroked Andy's face. "Shall I find out you?"

"Please." Andy begged.

"All right." She scanned the people on the porch and crooked a finger at Eggs. Tara held onto his arm to try and keep him next to her. But he lurched away from her side, grinning at the Maenad as he walked over to her. When he got in front of her, her eyes glowed. Eggs wasn't grinning anymore.

Seeing as everyone was ignoring me, I crawled towards Eric. He was staring at the ground. Sam the dog stayed by my side as I moved. As I got to his side, I didn't want to stand up, so I wrapped my arms around his legs. I felt his fingers tangle in my hair as I watched Callisto whisper in Egg's ear. He whispered back to her, then she kissed him and he went completely rigid. She left him to glide over to the porch and Eggs stayed stock still, staring into the woods. Her arms wrapped around Eric and I huddled closer to him.

"Lovely. But not for me, you beautiful piece of dead meat."

I breathed I sigh of relief and watched her move on to the others. She walked among the party goers, inhaling deeply. It looked like she was getting high from the scents of sex and alcohol from them. Suddenly she stopped and swung to face Mike Spencer, looking at him like he was a present ready to be opened.

"What are you?" Mike asked her.

"Have you ever seen anything like me before?"

"No," he said, and all the others shook their heads.

"But you've made me an offering before." Mike looked at her, confusion etched over his face. "When you killed the little black man. The pretty one. He was a lesser child of mine, and a fitting Tribute for me. I thank you for leaving him outside the drinking place; bars are my particular delight. Could you not find me in the woods?"

"Lady, we didn't make no offering," The man who had been kissing up Tara's thigh, Tom Hardaway I learned, said, his dark skin was goose pimpled and the chilly weather hadn't done his anatomy any favours at all.

"I saw you," she said. Everything fell silent then. Everything. There wasn't even the noise of the wildlife in the woods surrounding the lake. "I love the violence of sex, I love the reek of drink," she said dreamily. "I can run from miles away to be there for the end."

I could feel myself filling up with fear and covered my face with my hands. I built up my shields but I could feel the terror banging against them. My back arched and I bit my tongue to try and stay quiet. Eric picked me up and wrapped himself around me. The fact that he seemed frightened made our circumstances all the more dangerous. Sam the dog pressed against us in an effort to offer protection.

"You hit him during sex," the maenad said to Tom. "You hit him, because you are proud, and his Subservience disgusted and excited you." She stretched her bony hand to caress Tom's dark face. I could see the whites of his eyes. "And you"—she patted Mike with her other hand—"you beat him, too, because you were seized with the madness. Then he threatened to tell."

I saw Tara backing up out of the corner of my eye, her desire to survive burned in her eyes as she folded herself under a table on the deck. The strength of the thoughts being broadcast made me tremble with the effort of keeping them out. My barriers were breaking down bit by bit. I realised that soon there would be nothing left of me, only fear. Eric held me tighter and whispered to me to focus on his void.

Jan made the mistake of approaching Callisto and was left, limp on the wooden porch, foaming at the mouth. But something bigger was coming with the little group. Something terrible and pure. The fear was lessening and I felt my body calm down. The pressure in my head eased off but soon a new force was scratching at my walls. It was beautiful and evil. It was pure, mindless madness. The Maenad poured the rage, lust and pride from every pore. I was crushed under the weight of how overwhelmed the group was. I jerked as the insanity rolled off Callisto and into their minds. The only thing that stopped me screaming was Eric's hand in my mouth; I bit him and heard him grunt in pain.

The screaming went on for the longest time; under the sounds of horror were awful wet sounds. Sam the dog whimpered and pressed against us. Suddenly, it was over. I felt like my bones had turned to jelly. I felt Eric pick me up and opened my eyes as he laid me on the hood of the car. Callisto looked down on me, she was smiling again. She was drenched in blood from head to toe.

"You were close," she said to me, her voice as sweet and high as a flute. She moved slowly, deliberately. "You were very close, maybe as close as you'll ever come. I've never seen anyone maddened by the insanity of others. An entertaining thought."

I just stared at her. "Entertaining for you, maybe."

I watched as she said her goodbyes to Sam, he jumped around her legs happily as she spoke of all the things they enjoyed to do together. Eric told me he had to clean up the mess. I closed my eyes and listened to the wet thumps, I tried not to think about what it was Eric was moving around.

"Oh! Here's a live one! Tara isn't it?"

I opened my eyes and saw him helping Tara out from under the table. She scrambled away from him and ran over to me, throwing her arms around me and sobbing. As weary as I was, I let her cry. I noticed that Sam was back in human form now and asked if he could go look for a blanket. When he came back out, I wrapped the blanket around me and Tara and asked Sam how Eggs and Andy were.

"They're still there, standin' right where she left 'em."

I saw Portia slapping Andy's face and could hear her mumbling, wondering out loud what she was going to do with him now. Eventually she gave up and came over to stand next to me and Tara. Eric came back over too and asked Tara which car she came in.

"The white Camaro."

He nodded and sorted through a collection of car keys in his hands. I wasn't sure when he had procured them and maybe I didn't want to know. Sam grabbed his arm to stop him. "Eric, you need a hand?"

"That would be ... helpful, Sam."

"Tara, did you have a purse?" I thought it would be odd if any of Tara's things were found by the authorities after the 'clean up'.

Sam watched as she raised her arm and pointed inside the house. Shaking his head he ran inside and came back out with a huge bag, handing it to Tara. Portia huffed as Tara emptied the purse, pulling out make-up, her cell phone then eventually a change of clothes. As Tara was covering up her fire engine red underwear with a light sweater, Portia got sick of keeping her mouth shut.

"This was a waste! A complete waste! We know who killed the cook but there's no evidence!" I could see her cheeks pink up as her rage swelled. "Now I have to cope with the reputation of going to sex parties as well as having a suspected murderer for a brother!"

"Portia." I sighed. "Calm down, we'll get this mess cleaned up then we focus on the details."

Eric was dumping Eggs in the back of the Camaro; Sam was still walking around the edge of the house naked, pouring kerosene onto the wooden porch and bushes as he went. Eric came back over and stared at Tara.

"He will not remember any of this."

There was some deliberation over whether Tara should remember. She _wanted_ to remember and I thought it would have been a good idea to leave her with the knowledge of what happened but it was necessary for her to forget. People who remember can break down and confess under duress. Portia was given the same treatment, with the addition that she was to forget I was a telepath, and placed in Andy's car. I watched Sam drive away with Tara and Eggs in the Camaro, only Eric, Andy and I were left. After some soft suggestions from Eric, Andy came out of his stupor. He blinked and looked around Eric to the cabin.

"It's on fire." He observed. I glimpsed at the flames licking out from one of the windows.

"Yes, they're all dead. Except Tara and Eggs, they've gone back to town. And Portia, of course, she's in your car."

"These people ... they killed Lafayette?"

I nodded. "Mike and the other two, I guess Jan knew about it too."

"But there's no proof."

"Oh I wouldn't say that."

Eric beckoned us over to a Lincoln that had the trunk open. We gazed into the dark space; I could smell the coppery undertones of dried blood. As my eyes adjusted to the light levels, I could make out some stained clothes; Eric pulled a wallet out of the mess.

"Who does it belong to?" Andy asked, his brow knitted together in anticipation.

Eric flipped it open. "Lafayette Reynolds."

"Oh thank God!" Andy sagged before my eyes. "We can just leave the cars here, when the police and fire crews arrive they'll find everything."

"Look at me Andy." Eric crooned and Andy was easily trapped in his gaze. "Sookie was not here and neither was I. You know nothing of Sookie's mind reading." Andy nodded vaguely. This was the most I had seen Eric use his glamour, it really was fascinating, if a little creepy. I wondered if there was a reason Eric didn't remove all of his memories. "You will go home; the authorities will be here soon. Make sure the people you live with will swear you were at home all evening."

Without another word, Andy got into his car and drove away with Portia. Eric opened the passenger door of his car for me and I slumped into the seat. It was close to dawn and this had been one of the longest nights I'd known. I didn't look back once as we drove away from Jan Fowler's cabin in the woods.

"Where did Callisto go?" I asked sleepily.

"I have no idea. She will move on though, Maenads stay long enough to cause chaos but not enough to be caught."

We spent the rest of the drive in silence, after all we'd seen and heard – I think we were both glad of the respite. We made back home just in time, I didn't have the energy to change into my PJ's and just fell into bed, I heard the shower start up but I was already drifting into sleep.

I felt myself being shaken gently and opened my eyes. I felt like mould. Eric was smiling at me as he perched, stark naked, on the edge of the bed.

"Hey, are you finished in the shower?"

He frowned and spoke slowly in reply. "Yes ... twelve hours ago."

I sat up with a start. I had slept through the whole day? Eric chuckled and picked me up, setting me back down in the shower stall and closing the door behind him as he reached over and turned on the spray. We washed each other without speaking, and the only sounds while we dried off were my giggles when Eric tickled me and his laughter as he caught me every time I tried to squirm away.

Later, after we'd made love and Eric was getting dressed to go to work, I asked him if he'd heard from Bill.

"Yes, he called me moments before dawn. You were asleep by then. He will be bringing Jessica to Fangtasia to fill out the necessary forms before taking her to New Orleans."

"Oh? Can I meet her?"

"I think not. She's barely risen and will have difficulty controlling her urges and emotions." His mouth pressed in a thin line. "Her parents seem to have the same problem."

"I'm sure they just need time to adjust."

"I'm sure they just need time to realise that Jessica will not be returned to their care. Her father has demanded she be returned to them so she can be punished for sneaking out with her boyfriend."

"That's awful!"

"Indeed."

Eric kissed me goodbye and I decided to check my phone messages. Most of them were work related but there was one from Barry.

"_Hi Sookie, I just wanted to thank you for faxing over those papers. I've had a talk with Stan and we hashed out a great deal for both of us. I can't believe how quickly my life has changed. If I'd never met you, I'd still be a bell boy with no idea what opportunities were out there for someone like me. So, thanks for that too, I'll keep in mind to call you if I need help. Bye Sookie."_

I thought back to my activities in the last week. I'd met another telepath, been kidnapped and brutalised, pretended to be a lesbian, attended my first, and last, orgy and had narrowly escaped being driven mad by a profoundly powerful Supernatural being. Knowing that Barry was happy with the way things had turned out, Lafayette's killers had been exposed and that the Maenad had moved on felt like a good amount of closure.

I spread myself out on the couch and turned on the TV. If the life of a telepath was going to be this interesting all the time, I should probably get life insurance. If dealing with the Supes didn't kill me, the heart attacks surely would!

-Fin-


End file.
